Campus Connection

McCollum becomes the new host of ‘Morning Edition’

Maureen McCollum hits play. A smile slowly rolls across her face. She’s listening to herself interview her grandfather at age 8. Since childhood, McCollum, ’07, has had an excitement for telling stories that ride on sound waves. She first tested the waters on a Talkboy handheld recorder, re-enacting SNL skits and asking her grandpa about the guilt or innocence of O.J. Simpson. But she developed that energy into reporting skills at UW-La Crosse and a series of La Crosse-based radio internships and job opportunities that followed. McCollum’s voice is now broadcast across Wisconsin Public Radio’s 34 stations as the new host of “Morning Edition.” She started Aug. 5, succeeding UWL alum Terry Bell, ’88, who hosted the WPR program from 1999 until spring of this year. “We are confident ‘Morning Edition’ is going to continue to grow and develop with this new shot of energy and ideas, as well as Maureen’s enthusiasm for being a Wisconsin-oriented, Wisconsin-raised and Wisconsin-educated journalist,” says John Gaddo, WPR regional manager. McCollum, who originally was a psychology major, was turned on to journalism through UWL communication classes. Her father, a veteran TV journalist, questioned her decision. He’d lived the long-hours, fast-paced and frequently stressful newsroom work environment. But McCollum says her parents came around when they realized her determination and ability to succeed in radio. McCollum started real-world radio work during college thanks to opportunities available to students on campus and at area stations. She played a lead role in launching RAQ radio, UWL’s Internet radio station, as a senior year class project. She wrote advertising copy for Midwest Family Broadcasting as a student intern and later became a nighttime and early morning DJ for Z-93. She landed her first WPR internship during her senior year at UWL. “There are moments in life when things click,” says McCollum while seated behind the soundboard at the WLSU studio, WPR’s station in La Crosse. “I remember the first few hours being here and thinking — this all makes sense. This is where I need to be.” Her WPR college internship became a part-time job. She worked as a reporter, producer and anchor at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri, before making her way back to La Crosse in 2009 to join WPR full time. Prior to being named “Morning Edition” host, she was a La Crosse-based reporter and host/co-producer of the WPR program “Newsmakers.” She has received state and national recognition for her work including awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the Associated Press and more. “It is incredibly gratifying to watch a student like Maureen pursue her passion for the media and have the kind of success she has had,” says UWL Chancellor Joe Gow who knew her as a student championing RAQ radio and later a journalist covering campus. “It reminds us that our faculty and staff make an extraordinary difference in the lives of students.” McCollum calls Associate Professor of Communications Patricia Turner a “huge influence.” She recalls the hands-on experience in Turner’s communication classes as she and fellow classmates created their own newscasts, movie programs and sports programs, along with managing diverse responsibilities from camera operator to anchor person. “There are a lot of professors at this school who dedicate time and energy to students. Pat Turner is 100 percent for the students,” says McCollum. “Students in her classes are constantly facing deadlines, broken cameras or broken lights. There is so much going on in that studio and she manages to juggle it all. No matter what we needed, she was always there.” When McCollum stepped into the professional world of radio, she didn’t forget her UWL roots. She continued to mentor UWL students as co-advisor to broadcast club, which oversees RAQ radio. She frequently speaks to UWL classes and recently taught UWL history students how to create a podcast for a class project. Other students regularly work with McCollum at WPR and she invites them to get an up-close look at her life in journalism. “She makes bee colonies look like they’re slacking off,” says recent UWL graduate Thomas Rehfeldt, who worked with McCollum at WPR over the summer. “She’s always running — working on a feature that’s due on the air or planning interviews or ‘Newsmakers.’” Through job shadowing with McCollum, Rehfeldt was exposed interviewing high-profile people and making sense of complex topics to deliver meaningful Wisconsin news stories. He says radio reporting is more appealing to him now that he is able to see the entire process and how it would expose him to something new every day. McCollum says she is a mentor to students because she truly cares about them, understands what they’re going through as aspiring journalists and wants them to succeed. As she packs her bags to move to Madison, she’ll have to give up that mentorship role. But she looks forward to new goals — taking a statewide WPR program to the next level. Leaving has made her reflect on how far she’s come in her eight years since graduation. As her childhood interview with grandpa plays, she can still visualize him sitting across the kitchen table. That’s the power of radio, she adds. “It brings a lot of waves of emotions and images and memories. And it doesn’t always take you to the same place,” she says. “Listening to story on the radio — everyone gets the same information, but the way they interpret it is in their own imagination.” McCollum looks forward to bringing new stories to Wisconsin and new elements to WPR programming. She wants to transport listeners to the places where news is happening across the state — not telling them what to think, but what to think about. “I hope to be the friendly voice that Wisconsinites wake up to and introduce them to the movers and the shakers that make this state a great place to live,” she says.