Communiqué
Florida News Director Credits Career to WOUB
< < Back to florida-news-director-credits-career-to-woubJoe Inderhees graduated from Ohio University in 1999
ATHENS, OH – Joe Inderhees didn’t know about WOUB Public Media when he started school at Ohio University in the mid-1990s. He doesn’t even remember how he found out that students could work there and get professional training. But, there is one thing he knows for sure.
“All I can tell you for sure is that WOUB was the single thing that I can trace everything I’ve done since back to,” said Inderhees. “There’s nothing I do today that doesn’t have its roots in WOUB and what professional staff and fellow students taught me.”
Inderhees came to Athens from Cincinnati with a dream of being a sports broadcaster.
“I saw myself as following in the footsteps of Bob Costas. Since I was a kid, I knew what I wanted to do and that was to get into sports broadcasting. Ohio University had the best journalism program in the country and was the perfect fit for me. It was close enough that I could get home, but far enough away that mom or dad were not going to just show up,” said Inderhees laughing.
Inderhees started working at WOUB his freshman year doing morning radio.
“I remember walking up Jeff Hill from South Green at 0300 in the morning. At that time, the radio signal on the AM side served half of North Court Street and all of Congress Street,” said Inderhees jokingly. “Okay, it wasn’t that tiny of a signal but it was small, and it was the perfect place to learn and make mistakes. It taught me the responsibility that comes with broadcasting and journalism.”
Eventually, Inderhees worked his way up to FM radio and anchored the sportscast for WOUB’s afternoon radio program at the time, Afternoon Edition. The program was hosted by legendary WOUB Radio Host John Ray.
“Once you got to the FM side of the house, you were on your way,” said Inderhees. “The footprint for that signal was gigantic. The NPR quality FM sound was so different. And you got to hang out with John Ray, who was such a pro. You learned how to do it. The ‘What to do’ you can get anywhere. The ‘How to do it’ was what set WOUB apart.”
By the end of Inderhees’ freshman year he was anchoring the sportscast on WOUB TV during the nightly news program, NewsWatch.
“If you just go through the journalism program, you are not on TV until you are a senior,” said Inderhees. “Because of WOUB, by the time I got to my senior year, I already had a couple of years of on-air television experience under my belt.”
Before Inderhees graduated, he was offered his first job at WTAP in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
“One day a former WOUBer, Mike Kallmeyer, called the WOUB sports desk and said they had a position open at WTAP,” said Inderhees. “I drove me resumé tape over to Parkersburg and got offered the weekend sports job that afternoon. I hadn’t graduated from college yet and commuted while I finished school.”
Inderhees spent about a year and a half in Parkersburg, then moved on to Toledo, where he got a job because he could do it all.
“At WOUB you learned everything. I could shoot, produce and edit. Because of that I was able to move into news and weather. I was a swiss army knife.”
Eventually, Inderhees got a job as a news producer in Fort Myers, Florida.
“Once I got a taste of being able to do more than just one slice, I wanted more of that,” said Inderhees. “As a producer, I found I really enjoyed the editorial process. I got the chance to hear all sides of an editorial discussion. Do we publish? Don’t we? What platform is best for this? And I loved it.”
After Fort Myers, Inderhees moved to a weekend producer gig in Miami, then to an executive producer position in San Francisco, and finally headed back to Florida as an assistant news director in Jacksonville. Two years after arriving in Jacksonville, he was promoted to his current position as news director.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without WOUB,” said Inderhees. “I can’t thank my fellow students at the time, like Dave Bezusko, Scott Saxton, Michael Goldfarb, Rob Cornelius and Jason Koma enough. They taught me so much. The WOUB professional staff members also taught me a ton, like Fred Kight, Paul Ladwig, Darren Toms and John Ray. And I also have to thank Larry Hunter and Jim Grobe. Hunter was the Ohio University Basketball Head Coach at the time, and Grobe was the Ohio University Head Football Coach. Those coaches were interviewed by students and ESPN at the same time. The importance of the patience that those coaches had with us as students cannot be overstated.”
“I got the chance to do so many things and interview so many people,” said Inderhees. “Plain and simple, there is no career for me without WOUB.”