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 WGLT correspondent Randy Kindred, a veteran sportswriter and columnist who previously wrote for The Pantagraph. His natural curiosity and love of writing and sports fuel Randy's work.
“I like to go beyond just what they do. I like to go into why are they able to do what they do and what motivated them, and kind of get into the more human interest side of it. I often tell people I never written truly about sports. I've written about the people in sports,” Randy said.
Your job title here is correspondent. What does that mean, and what do you do here?
I kind of see my role as a supplement to the day-to-day coverage that WGLT does. And my background is in sportswriting. I spent 45 years with the Pantagraph as a sportswriter and then a columnist and an editor, and so that's very much who I am. So I mainly contribute sports-related feature stories and columns here at a WGLT mostly on local and area people.
And I do some in-studio interviews, which was new to me when I came over from the newspaper side, but I've gotten to where I enjoy that. And I just recently did a video interview in the studio, so that was kind of unique.
Why do you work in journalism, and what do you like about it?
I was drawn to it because I just had a natural curiosity. And growing up, I enjoyed writing, always enjoyed those kind of classes in school and I loved sports, but I knew that I wasn't talented enough to play sports. I guess I could have coached, but I didn't want to go that route. So I thought writing about sports would be a perfect kind of happy medium for me, and it has been. I can't imagine I would have done anything else.
I just like talking to people and learning their stories, and then being able to share their stories with the public through what I write. I like to go beyond just what they do. I like to go into why are they able to do what they do and what motivated them, and kind of get into the more human interest side of it. I often tell people I never written truly about sports. I've written about the people in sports.
Is there a specific interaction that you've had with a reader that reminded you why public media matters?
It's probably been a couple years ago now, when WGLT did a series of stories on some improprieties that were going on in the Illinois State Athletics department. And it led to a change in leadership of the department. Really anywhere I went in public there for a while, even though I didn't contribute to that series of articles and the reporting, a lot of people talked about what an impact [it had] and a good job the WGLT did of kind of getting into the nuts and bolts of that and in letting the public know something that they really needed to be informed about. So that's probably the one that jumps out at me, just how appreciative it seemed that the community [was] that this all came to light, and some changes that needed to be made were made.
If you could force everyone in Bloomington-Normal to listen to or read just one story that we've produced this year, which would it be and why?
Charlie Schlenker did a story on Adam Nielsen, who had been named the Town of Normal Citizen of the Year. And Adam is battling early onset Alzheimer's. And it was a story with talking to Adam and his wife, Dayna Brown, just about what they're what they're facing.
And it was impressive how open they were about everything – the diagnosis and everything that they're going to face. And they're really interested in advocacy on behalf of Alzheimer's research and what support Alzheimer's patients can get around this area. And just a really good story that I think anybody who read it had to be impressed with, not only Adam and Dayna with how they're approaching this, but how Charlie presented it. It was a terrific read, I thought, and something that I would encourage everyone, if you haven't read it, to go and find it and read it.
What's one thing about your job that would most surprise a reader or listener who only hears the finished product?
I know a lot of the people who do work here at WGLT full time, just from my days at the Pantagraph or I was near them when they were working at WJBC. And I'm thinking of Joe Deacon, who I worked with at the Pantagraph. Ryan Denham was at the Pantagraph with me for a while, and then Eric Stock and R.C. McBride [formerly of WJBC]. These are all people that I know very well, and they're all very dedicated people and always have the public's interest in mind.
Maybe the only thing that would surprise the readers or listeners is how much time and sweat equity that they put into this job to make sure that they do the best job they can to inform the people in the community.
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.
That's a difficult one. I retired from full-time duty at the Pantagraph in 2020 and [it would have been difficult to predict] just how much has changed in the six years till now.
But one thing that concerns me is, with the emergence of A.I., if along the way we're going to lose a lot of this human element of reporting and storytelling. And I hate to think it's going to become almost automated and take away that human part of it.
And the immediacy of it. We already receive news almost immediately on our phones and everything. And so I don't know, maybe in 2086 we'll have computer chips embedded in us, and it won't be me, because I won't be around. But that might be what happens, is it just goes right into you, and you don't even have to turn anything on.
When you aren't at the station or on the job, where are we most likely to find you, and what are you doing to unplug?
Since I retired from the Pantagraph, one of my co-workers there, Jim Benson, who has been a lifelong golfer, he kind of coaxed me to come out and start playing golf, and I've have fallen in love with it. So anytime the weather permits, I played probably two or three times at least each week. I'm still not very good at it, but I really enjoy getting out and doing it.
And I still watch sports regularly, whether it be going to a game or watching it on TV. So there’s a couple of things I do.
I not only work here, but do some freelance writing for Special Olympics Illinois, cover some of their events, which is very, very rewarding in a lot of ways, to see what a job they do and what an impact they have on the athletes that compete there.
For my wife Martha and I, our main joy is that we have three grandchildren. Our daughters both are married and live in Elmhurst, which isn't too far from here, and so we've got three grandchildren. We've got another one on the way. So we spend as much time as we can with them, either coming to visit us down here, or we go to Elmhurst, and we enjoy being grandma and grandpa.
Let's wrap it up with the speed round to get to know you just a little better. So what's the last good book that you've read?
This is an interesting one. It's not a classic or anything like that, but I just recently read a biography on Tom Selleck, the actor, and what drew me to that is I was a big fan of the Blue Bloods television series, which he was the lead actor in. Plus I had seen him over the years in a lot of movies and even dating back to the original Magnum PI series on TV. And it was really interesting to kind of read about where he came from, and then the steps that it took for him to reach the heights that he has. And so I found it to be very interesting and let me know the guy behind who I've watched on TV all these years.
What's the movie you've seen the most?
A Few Good Men is one of my favorite movies with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson. I could watch it every day, as crazy as that sounds. But anytime I see that it's on TV, I click on it to see what stage of the movie they're in, and then I get hooked and I end up watching it till the very end.
And then other two that I've watched a lot over the years, both were comedies that were made quite a few years ago, but Stripes is one of them. Bill Murray. It makes me laugh every time, even though I've seen it over 100 times, probably. And the same goes for Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. My whole family knows almost every word of that movie, but we watch it and we still laugh just as hard every time.
Who's your favorite NPR host or reporter?
To be honest, I don't know that I have a favorite. I just really admire and respect the job that that they do, as far as fair and objective reporting. That’s taken such a hit over the last few years of people not trusting the news or whatever. And I just really value fair and objective reporting. And I think they do that, the hosts and the reporters. And I think this is a time that we desperately, desperately need that in society, and so I hope they can keep that going for many years to come.
And finally, 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?
As far as the eating side, I would probably make sure I got them to Lucca Grill in Downtown Bloomington and have one of those A La Baldini pizzas or some of the other specialties that they've got, because it's just got a such a historic feel to it. It's been around forever, and I really enjoy that going there. And Avanti’s is another one. I was a student here at Illinois State from 1976 to 1980, and Avanti’s was already here then. And so if people haven't tried it, I like to have them do that.
I would show them the Illinois State campus, all over the campus. I think it's a good mix of historic, traditional buildings, and then all a lot of the newer buildings and construction that have taken place. Then, the athletic facilities have really been upgraded in the last 10 to 15 years. So I would show them that. I would take them to the Illinois Wesleyan campus as well, because it also has a good mix of a long, storied history with some of its buildings and traditions, but it's also got a lot of newer buildings, and they've kept up with the times. And I had a daughter that went to school at Wesleyan.
I would probably try to work in the David Davis Mansion. It's got some historical value here in town. I guess we could drive past the big State Farm Insurance buildings. It’s such a big part of the community. And finally, if they had any interest in golf, I would probably take them out to the den at Fox Creek, and even if we didn't play, just let them see it, because that's a pretty cool place.
