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Wendy Nelson

Freelance Producer
Grand Rapids, MI

Bio:

Many people stray from childhood visions of what their grown-up lives will be. And this may not necessarily be a bad thing. After all, if everyone were a ballerina or an astronaut, who would do your taxes?

My course, however, has been fairly steady. And, no, I will not do your taxes.

On Christmas morning the year I was five, I opened a present from my parents: an AM clock radio. Late at night, way past bedtime, hidden under the covers, I would tune in radio stations far away from my bedroom in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I regularly heard stations from Chicago and Atlanta, and sometimes even more distant places.

I knew that my little radio was magic. It was a secret I kept, because I didn’t want anyone to take my radio away.

Years later, as a broadcasting major at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, I learned the exact technical reasons why my AM radio was able to bring in such far away stations. But I prefer to continue to believe it was a special magic radio. It started a passion that has become my work; and who could ask for anything better than to be paid for what you love to do?

Over the course of my broadcasting career, I’ve been an announcer and a producer, and have had a couple jobs in management. It took 15 years to find what I now believe is the perfect job for me. As a feature reporter / producer, I’m able to pursue the stories that interest me, and cover them in the in-depth way that only public radio allows.

Working as a regular contributor to the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m given a great deal of freedom in both the subjects I cover and the approach I take. I’m able to explore many areas that interest me, particularly the urban environment and alternative approaches to health care.

I hope that my work will allow you to meet people you otherwise might not, and that it will introduce you to some new or alternative ideas.

Thanks for listening. And remember, please, that public radio and the Great Lakes Radio Consortium can only continue with your financial support.