Day in the Life of a Radio Host at WUWM

The 7th floor of the Chase tower is home to WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio, and it is typically a very busy place, but when Rachel Owens arrives for work, the floor is empty and it’s dark both inside and outside. She is the new host of the Morning Edition program on WUWM.

Each day starts with that first big cup of coffee before entering Studio A. Her preparation includes printing off the broadcast clock for the day’s program. Then she pulls up the news and weather and turns on the television to see if there is any breaking news that will need to be added to that days show. Glancing up at the clock, it hits 5 a.m., the On-Air sign lights up and her day has begun.

Owens grew up in the small town of Henniker in New Hampshire. “It’s about 90 miles from Boston and the coast. There are no real big cities in New Hampshire.” But it was there that she developed her passion for literature and storytelling. She was always more comfortable standing in front of the class giving speeches or presentations. “I hated doing tests, but stick me up in front of an audience and I’ll talk forever.”

Following high school, she did a study abroad internship program before going to go off to college, but while there she learned she wasn’t accepted to her first and only choice for college. Lucky for her, though, her mother had continued the search and found a small college in Fairfield, Iowa called Maharishi University of Management. The university uses conscious based education and helps it students look inward and develop self-knowledge in addition to an education.

She visited the school and felt it was a great fit. While at school, she continued to focus on her love of literature and storytelling and believed theater may be a perfect area for her to major in. While taking a theater class, a teacher suggested that the radio station on campus was looking for someone and that she should go over and apply. “The real sign of what might be a good fit for you is sometimes spotted first by someone else.”

Following the teacher’s advice she got a job at WHOE 90.5FM World Radio, where her duties included a lot of program editing, checking levels of shows and an opportunity to host her own show Rachel’s Contemporary Music Hour where she played a variety of world music. In edition to that, she assisted the director Stan Stansberry at the station until she graduated.
After school and moving to Madison, she wanted to continue working in radio, but was unable to get a job immediately. “I was forced to get a job as a barista as most literature majors do,” she said.

She did find a open job at WSUM college radio station which was known to bring people in and show them how to create, produce and air their own shows. While there, she continued to search and found an entry-level board operator position at Wisconsin Public Radio that she did every Saturday morning for six years.

Her drive continued, and she seized any opportunity she could. Some of her jobs included reading news and weather and screening calls for talk shows. As she continued to make herself available to any shift or position at Wisconsin Public Radio, she learned a variety of different skills in radio. At one point, she was doing four different jobs to piece together a 40-hour workweek.

Although she enjoyed learning all the different aspects of radio, she was getting a little frustrated because she was unable to break into that next level. “I started to feel like a jack of all trades that could do a little bit of everything, but nothing as well as I wanted too.” On air positions would open up, but they were tough to come by because the people she was up against have been doing exactly what that job entailed for years already.

Before she knew it, six years had passed at Wisconsin Public Radio, but that year she attended a convention held by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and made connections with people all over the state. Then while on their website, she noticed the careers section and saw a posting for a position opening at the public radio station in Milwaukee. Knowing she wanted to stay in public radio she applied.

She was contacted by WUWM, and they schedule an interview in front of a screening committee. She believed this interview went really well because they allotted so much time for her and weren’t just rushing her along and looking at their clocks.

Leaving the interview she felt this position was a really good fit and hoped they wanted her.

They called and offered her the position on WUWM’s at night program. The position they offered was just as a producer, but as a co-host, which was out of her comfort zone. “First few interviews I did, I was very nervous and I was probably more nervous than the people I was interviewing.”

While with WUWM@Nite, she was excited that she has the ability to be creative freedom with some aspects of the program. Having the responsibility to determine what was going to be on the air for a couple of hours a night. “That is kinda overwhelming, but exciting.”
While she was working hard everyday on the WUWM@Nite program the news broke on the floor that long time Morning Edition host Bob Bach was retiring after 24 years.
A variety of people filled in for the next couple months while they searched for a new host, but they were unable to find someone to come in and just fill the shoes Bob left behind, they chose to look in house and the stations programming director Bruce Winter suggested his co-host Rachel Owens.

Rachel started the position on March 2 and had to hit the job running because of the busy news week.