You know the voices, and you know the stories. But behind every story on WGLT is a person who calls this community home just like you do.
The Meet the Newsroom series pulls back the curtain to introduce you to the team that makes WGLT possible. The series continues with Morning Edition host and audio producer Lou Warner, who joined WGLT as an undergraduate student intern, stayed on as a part-time host, and is now part of the full-time team.
When he’s not on the air with WGLT, Lou spends his time as a voice actor and freelance editor, building custom keyboards, doing astrophotography, and on his other fulfilling interests.
“I am a massive homebody and a big nerd,” Lou said. “I've been just really, really enamored with weird, quirky things pretty much my entire life.”
Your job title here is Morning Edition host and audio producer. What does that mean, and what do you do every day?
First and foremost, I'm the show host of Morning Edition. I get on the mic. I talk about stories that we're running, local events. I also produce Sound Ideas stories, the hourly newscasts as well. And if there's any sort of breaking news or weather warnings, I'm responsible to get that out on air as well.
Outside of Morning Edition, I do a whole bunch of stuff. I make promos, community announcements, I make sure our underwriting announcements play on air. I've also been trusted to help manage some of our part-timers and interns. My entire job is this weird combination of a whole bunch of tiny things that support a whole bunch of different people.
Why do you work in journalism, and what do you like about it?
I got into journalism as an opportunity to voice act and do audio editing. I never intended to become a morning show host or a newscaster, but I have a personal policy of never saying no when people ask me to do things unless I physically can’t be there. So this has gotten me into a whole bunch of different places, doing some really, really cool stuff with really cool people.
And I would say that I'm not a journalist, per se. I think I'm more of like the mouthpiece of the newsroom for a large portion of the day. It's a very fulfilling career. It's something that is bigger than one person. It's a community service, and I like being able to inform people, even if I'm not necessarily the one doing all the heavy lifting.
Is there a specific interaction that you've had with a listener that reminded you why public media matters?
Because of my schedule, I've actually been mostly behind the scenes. I feel like I'm like the Wizard of Oz or something, like nobody knows who I am.
I would say that I have these really cool talks with my parents, who are also local. They're very busy. They can't always keep up on the local news, so whenever I see them, they ask me about what's happening in the community. I think the most important thing that they've ever asked me was during the primary elections. I was able to point them to our reporting and help them understand who they're voting for and what they're voting for, and it was just a really cool experience being able to be that person for them.
If you could force everyone in Bloomington-Normal to listen to or read just one story that we've produced this year, which one would it be and why?
I would say Jon Norton’s retirement story on Charlie Schlenker. Jon was my former boss and predecessor on Morning Edition. He's just always been this really meaningful person since I started at WGLT. He guided me the entire way up until his retirement. I wouldn't be here if not for him. And beyond that, in that story, he really helps to paint how WGLT and the radio industry have just evolved as someone who's lived in those really important, influential moments, and he demonstrates how he pushed the industry forward, even if he doesn't say it outright. You can just tell he's a really, really cool guy. And I think anyone that's ever listened to Morning Edition and knows who he is, I think they'd appreciate hearing it.
What's one thing about your daily job that would most surprise a reader or listener who only hears the finished product?
There is so much software and programming that goes into keeping us on air. There are a whole bunch of different moving pieces. I can think of three to four different programs just in automation, when we have these NPR shows that are playing, and it's not even just that, it's looking at how each story that's on air from WGLT passes hands at several points. The station has so many moving parts, and it's like a well-oiled machine. I know that's such a cliche thing to say, but it's insane how well everybody works together.
This is WGLT’s 60th anniversary. So let's do a prediction: What do you think news media will look like in 60 years? The year 2086.
This is a tricky one, and you might have to cut me off, because I'm a nerd for this kind of stuff.
I think we're going to see the influence of social media and algorithms for on-demand media take a pretty large role. So for our generation, we're the first generation of kids who grew up with social media and the internet proper. We're going to be entering the workforce en masse soon, and when we get to 2086 we'll have been there for a while and probably be tapped out by that point, I would hope. But I think that our effect and the influence that social media has had on us, if you think about it, radio kind of influenced social media, I think it's going to be this full circle moment of we're going to be seeing a lot more niche news and algorithms targeting users with very, very minimal input. And I think we could see not only WGLT but news media in general targeting people way outside of their standard communities as we think about it today. And I think that could be radio, and it could also just be traditional print or online news media as well.
When you aren't at the station, where are we most likely to find you, and what are you doing to unplug?
I am a massive homebody and a big nerd, so I'm really big into building custom keyboards. Actually, I'm in the middle of ordering parts for my next one right now, it's kind of a problem. I also build model kits.
I love watching old films and foreign media, like anime from the '80s and '90s. I love astrophotography as well. That's been like a huge constant of my life since elementary school. I've been just really, really enamored with weird, quirky things pretty much my entire life.
In a more fulfilling sense, I've been a voice actor and a freelance editor for almost 10 years at this point, so I do that as well whenever I can fit it in.
Let's wrap it up with the speed round to get to know you just a little better. What's the last good book you've read?
Neuromancer by William Gibson.
What's the movie that you've seen the most?
It's a toss-up between Star Wars, Episode 6, Return of the Jedi and Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
Who's your favorite NPR host or reporter?
Also a toss-up. Steve Inskeep from Morning Edition and Kai Ryssdal from Marketplace. They are funny guys.
Let's say you've got out-of-town relatives coming to visit you in Bloomington-Normal. You've got one day to show them around. Where do you take them to show off the town?
Downtown Bloomington, for sure. The shops are really cool. And if it's the right time of the year, the farmers market will also be open. And if we're cheating a little bit, if I can bend the rules just a little bit, I would say, outside of Bloomington-Normal but still close by is the International Dark Sky Spot of Illinois. It's over nearby Champaign. You can see the Milky Way, and you can see the Perseid meteor showers in early August.
