Dear Listeners, It is with incredibly mixed emotions that we announce to you that our long time Operations Manager, Ken Thermon, has retired.
On the one hand, it's difficult to think what it will be like to come to the station every day and not have Ken here. He has meant so much to this station for so long, it will not be the same. On the other hand, after 36 years of working here, he deserves some much deserved time to himself.
Ken (or K.T. or Kenny as he is more often known around the halls of TSPR) began his career at WIUM as a broadcasting student at Western Illinois University, and stayed with the station after graduating. He held many roles in the early days, ultimately becoming the Operations Manager. As TSPR grew in range and complexity, he helped guide the station's conversion to digital and was instrumental in Tri States Public Radio's growth from a single signal to the current four broadcast signals. K.T. also mentored hundreds of WIU broadcasting students as they worked at the station while earning their degree. I was one of them. Ken was always patient while still upholding the standards of the station. While Ken's voice was on the air just about every day, most of what he did was behind the scenes. Often at night, or on weekends, he was the person who came in to make sure things were running. Most of what he did went unnoticed by the audience, but it was critical to our success. Most importantly, the staff here will miss seeing our friend every day. We will make a point to go out and hear him DJ at The Pace in Macomb (which he has also done for decades) and find other reasons to sit and chat about things other than program schedules and recording promos.
All of us who listen to the station owe him a tip of the cap. We are hosting a retirement party to honor Ken on Friday, December 12th from 4 to 6pm at our Macomb studios on the campus of WIU, 320 W. University Drive. We would love to see you there to help us thank Ken for his commitment and dedication over the years.