2006-2007 Speakers Bureau Catalog
RANDALL DAVIDSON
Randall Davidson works for Wisconsin Public Radio as the network's chief announcer, heard weekday afternoons as statewide newscaster. A native of Neenah, he began his radio career at WRST-FM at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and worked as a disc jockey at commercial station WHBY-AM in Appleton. He attended the UW School of Business, and is the author of 9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the Wisconsin Idea (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006).
Address: 2721 Lynn Terrace #4, Madison, WI 53705
Phone: 608-233-8522 (home), 608-263-3634 (work)
E-mail: davidson@wpr.org
History of WHA Radio and Educational Broadcasting in Wisconsin
This presentation explores the history of the original network of FM repeaters that became the core of the Wisconsin Public Radio network of today, the pioneer educational broadcaster WHA in Madison, and its affiliated station WLBL in Auburndale. The story follows the early experiments with wireless telegraphy at the University of Wisconsin, early voice broadcasts, and the first innovative attempts to use the new medium to serve the public (farmers, homemakers, adult learners, etc.) In 1931, the stations began offering programs to be used in classrooms as part of elementary instruction under the title "The Wisconsin School of the Air," which continued until the early 1980s. Davidson's presentation also includes a discussion of the transition from the educational broadcastingof the past to the "public radio" operations of today.
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