An award-winning 25-year broadcasting veteran and a former member of the NPR Board of Directors, Mike Savage has been named general manager of WEKU-FM, the public radio service of Eastern Kentucky University.
Most recently, Savage served four years as general manager of WBAA at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he led a full-time staff of 12 and was responsible for managing a $1.5 million budget to cover one news and two music stations. While there, he became the first-ever petitioned candidate to be elected to the NPR board, where he served on several committees, including a stint as vice chair of the Distribution/Interconnect Committee, which governs the public radio satellite system.
“Mike brings a wealth of experience and a passion for public radio that, with support of the staff and the administration, can move WEKU in a direction that will position the station on solid footing and sustain the station’s mission for the future,” said Doug Cornett, assistant vice president for communications and brand management for the University.
Savage had previously served as director and station manager at WKCC-FM in Kankakee, Illinois; as station manager at WNGM in Hiawassee, Georgia; and as station manager for WPPR Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta. He holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a master’s degree in mass communication and has received dozens of journalism awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and Associated Press.
“My goal is to make WEKU a strong and stable organization,” Savage said. “Listeners rely on WEKU for vital news, information, arts, cultural and entertainment programming. I recognize how important that service is to the area, and I’m really looking forward to joining the EKU community.”
Savage will join the station on Aug. 21.