Here is another in our occasional columns
updating you on current activities of past employees.
Such a busy life made it hard to track
Quinn down, but when we finally caught up with him, he was
happy to share with us what he has been up to.
Quinn began working
at Wisconsin Public Radio in 1992 after working at WVPE-FM, a
National Public Radio affiliate in Elkhart, Indiana and WAOR,
Niles, Michigan as a “rock ‘n’ roll
DJ.” A graduate of Ball State University, Quinn received
his bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science
and went on to get his masters in journalism from the
University of Missouri at Columbia. Quinn’s four-year
career at Wisconsin Public Radio began at the northeastern
bureau in Appleton as host/producer of a daily interview
program broadcast on WGBW-FM and WLFM-FM. He also served as a
back-up morning host. Later he had the opportunity to transfer
to Madison where he was Tom Clark’s producer and regular
fill-in for about nine months. He eventually became Morning Edition host
for the entire state for two years.
“I enjoyed the
Green Bay talk-show the most,” Quinn said. “It was
less regimented and I got to do some good stories. I still deal
with some of the Packers and their PR people.”
After leaving
Wisconsin Public Radio in 1996, Quinn freelanced for the
British Broadcasting Corporation and National Public Radio.
Then in 1998 he joined WDET/Detroit where he is their
government reporter.
“There’s
more news on a daily basis in Detroit than in Madison,”
said Quinn, “which keeps me very busy. I also do reports
for the BBC World Service and for NPR.” Which is why we
in Wisconsin continue to regularly hear Quinn’s voice on
the air.
And when he’s
not reporting the news, he’s being honored for it. The
Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the Robert F. Hyland/CBS
Radio Award honored Quinn for nearly a decade of feature
reporting.
Still, he misses the
residents of Wisconsin. “They are all first-class people
and seemed to try hard to make me feel welcome,” Quinn
said.
