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WOUB Member Spotlight: Stevie Fairchild
< < Back toFairchild has been a member of WOUB since 1984
ATHENS, OH – Stephanie Fairchild, who goes by “Stevie,” almost can’t remember a time that WOUB and public media weren’t a part of her life.
“When I first moved to Cambridge, Ohio in 1973, there were only two commercial TV stations. One was out of Wheeling, West Virginia and the other from Steubenville, Ohio. That’s when I discovered WOUB and public TV.”
Fairchild grew up in Boise, Idaho. She met her husband, Don, when he was in the U.S. Air Force stationed near Boise. The two eventually moved to Cambridge, where Don grew up. Stevie became a stay-at-home mom who raised four daughters. She says they were raised on WOUB TV.
“That’s pretty much all my kids watched,” said Fairchild with a chuckle. “I wanted them watching television that they could learn from and be entertained at the same time.”
As her children grew up, Fairchild decided to utilize her bachelor’s degree in English from Boise State University by teaching English classes to summer school students. She also worked as part of a night school program to help people get their GEDs or learn English as a second language. Literacy education was her passion, and she loved to use her skills to help others.
“That’s one of the reasons I think public media is so important in this region,” said Fairchild. “WOUB provides high quality educational programming that is entertainment with some depth. There is such good information provided without a really strong bias.”
As her children got older, Fairchild introduced them to other public media programs on WOUB TV that are her favorites like Ken Burns’ documentaries, MASTERPIECE, Nature and PBS NewsHour.
“I also really enjoy WOUB’s locally-produced programming,” said Fairchild. “I really loved the recent Our Town: Chillicothe and I enjoy watching WOUB’s nightly half-hour local news program, NewsWatch. I love to watch the college students who work on the program grow over the years that they are at Ohio University.”
Fairchild also enjoys WOUB Radio and likes to listen to All Things Considered and Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! as well as Fresh Air.
“We have been supporters of WOUB since the mid-1980s because it’s a place where I can get quality local news and information,” said Fairchild. “Being well-informed with local news, as well as national and international news, is so important.”