Welcome back to the WXCO morning report.
Again, we're talking to Brad Hansen, a green heck.
communication specialist and a former WAOW news director, anchor, sports director and so many hats you wore there.
Let's talk about the TV aspect because when you came, what year did you come
to?
So I came here in April of 18.
And where did you come from?
So I had been in Dubuque, Iowa.
I was a reporter for the NBC station based out of Waterloo.
I was a bureau reporter for a little over three years there.
What did you know about Warsaw when you first
arrived?
Not a darn thing.
I looked it up on the map.
And at that time in my life, I was a single guy.
My family and my big friend group are all based in the cities in Minneapolis.
And so everything was always how far from Minneapolis.
And I looked it up and, oh, nice three hour drive.
That's two hours shorter than Dubuque.
That's great.
I had the opportunity to come up and be the sports director.
And that was, that had kind of always been my goal was to get into sports broad.
casting to jump right in from going as a reporter to leading a sports department and getting the opportunities I got.
It was kind of a no-brainer for me to take the role.
And my mindset was I'll take the job first and figure out Wausau later.
and here I am seven plus years and
well the thing about the thing about that jumps out is that I mean so often somebody will come to a community whether it's was so whether it's any community for a job yep and then you have your job and then when that job ends you you leave but right still here and then you obviously have another job here but it's got to be more than that what what is it about this area that's made you settle
Put your roots down here.
Our house is a big part of it.
So we bought a house a couple of years ago in Weston, moved into a neighborhood where there's a bunch of kids, my daughter's age.
She goes to Riverside Elementary in the Weston or in the Everest school district.
And they were really incredible with her.
She was kind of behind in reading and math and they've worked really hard to get her up to grade level.
And so we have just really appreciated, it just feels like home.
It's just, it's great people.
It's a great district.
a great neighborhood close with her parents who are still in town.
My wife's parents are around.
So for us, it was, there was always kind of that thought of maybe we go back to the cities.
But as we've continued to put down more and more roots, my daughter plays hockey.
She's a squirt in the Everest Youth Hockey Program.
So we're at the ice rink four nights a week,
it feels
like.
We just continue to get more involved in different things.
And now that I have a job where I have my nights and weekends a little more free, I'm looking forward to being able.
to jump into some other things where before I didn't really have the time or the predictable schedule to jump into.
Being in the media is very difficult to have a family, isn't it?
It is.
The time that I took the job as news director, my son was one.
We had just gotten a brand new puppy.
We were living in a townhouse, a two bedroom townhouse.
So there's four of us and a puppy.
And I was anchoring in the evening.
And so my wife was putting
both kids to bed every night.
They would basically, I would have the mornings with my son, but my daughter would be at school all day.
And then when she would get home, I'd be at work.
And so, you know, it wasn't a lot of chance to see them during the week.
When I was the morning anchor is kind of the same thing.
I was working while they were sleeping.
And then I was sleeping while they were awake.
And then on, you know, when I was working mornings on the weekends, I would just be dead tired by four o'clock in the afternoon because my sleep schedule is all messed up.
So,
so that was, that was one of
the big reasons I took the job as news director, I obviously wanted to continue to grow my career and mentor young journalists, but to provide a chance to actually be home at night with the family and give my wife a little bit of a break, she was FaceTiming me almost every night to help calm the chaos at home.
And so
it is, it is, and it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of sacrifice.
And I don't think people don't really realize that they turn on the six and 10 o'clock news and they go, that's my person, that's my anchor.
They don't really think much about the fact that it's 10 o'clock at night and they're still at work and they've probably been at work all evening and missing sports games and concerts and things like that.
Yeah.
When you look at your.
progression in the TV news business.
And you said it, I mean, started as the sports guy and then the news guy and then the leader and as a mentor to a lot of young reporters.
What was the most, I would say a fulfilling aspect of being part of the channel nine team for those years.
Yeah.
I mean, I think I, I loved just how much it cemented me as part of this community.
I think it'll happen probably for a long time to come that people will still approach me in public and talk to.
me and just introduce themselves and ask me questions or whatever.
And I love that.
I love getting to know the people that have watched the news, but I love more importantly, getting to know the people of this community.
So that was always a big part.
And then getting the chance to help these young journalists grow a lot of times.
If you've watched the news for a long time, you, you kind of recognize a cycle.
All of a sudden you have a new reporter in fresh out of college, probably not very good.
And then right when they start to get really good, that's when their contract's up and they're on to the next thing.
And there's a lot of work that goes in.
in that in between to get them to that
point.
And so being able to help in that process was always fun.
Back when I was growing up and I grew up in this area, so I'm growing up in the 70s and then the 80s a long time ago, because I'm an old guy.
Back in those days, I remember guys like, you know, on channel seven and channel nine, that it was not.
the first job out of school.
It was not the first job in the business.
It seems like that has changed over the years that now that our media market is sort of a starter market for yourself.
And one reason that I think as a community, it hurts to lose somebody because you came in.
Not knowing anything about our area right and then you're able to learn about our area have some historical knowledge How difficult is it for any media operation that does not have that?
Historical knowledge and right now what this looks like is if you turn on your TV There's not a lot of folks that have been around for a long time.
No, it's you miss a lot of context
is what it is.
So there might be a new story that they would cover.
And if it's a newer reporter without a lot of knowledge about the area and the history and things, they might just cover it for what it is.
One of the great things about getting the chance to work with Melissa Langben for so
many years
is every story had layers that nobody else really would know about or think about.
But because she had been around for so long, she would go, oh, yeah, well, what about this aspect or this aspect?
And it allowed us to really fill out a lot of these stories and kind of
to eat them up and make them give them context that might be missing to the average viewer.
So that's, that's a big thing that it's just hard to know when you're missing the context of those things.
And especially if you're brand new, you're still trying to work on the mechanics of the job.
Do I have the, the framing of the interview right?
Am I
using the
right words to say this?
Am I picking the right sound bites?
And you're, you're more worried about that.
And that gives you less time to look into, okay, what might be, is there any context?
history or anything tied to this that I'm missing.
A few more minutes with Brad Hansen coming up at 752 here on 98.9 WXCO.
WXCO morning report part of mornings with pack right low on 98.9 WXCO I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Welsh
And a few more minutes remaining in our conversation with Brad Hansen.
Of course, Brad Hansen, longtime staple of WAOW Channel 9, left his position as the news director of Channel 9 less than two months ago for a new position at Greenhack as a communication specialist.
And to wrap up our discussion, wanted to ask about the difficult times in the past year where corporate decided to cut some very significant positions at Channel 9.
And we continued by talking about some of the blowback and the difficult times in the aftermath of that in the past year at WAOW.
there was in the midst of it in the past year where there were major changes at Channel 9.
It got pushed back against.
It feels like, and again, I don't know what's going on, but it feels like there was a little bit of a pullback because of the backlash.
What was your take when that all happened?
And I don't want you to be hard on the people that you worked for or with or whatever it may be.
But as that was happening, I imagine that had to be for you as somebody that has been in this business for a long time.
the importance of local reporting, that had to have been a very difficult
time.
Yeah, I can tell you my last year and a half at nine was one of the hardest year and a half of my life.
And I say that knowing that I served four years in the Marine Corps, spent six months in Afghanistan, I've done, not that I've had the hardest life, but I've not, you know, I've
had my fair share
of adversity.
So when I say that it was one of the hardest,
You know, to me, that means something.
But, you know, all of the decisions that were made were made far, far above our heads.
And I think the hardest part through all of that was there was not a real understanding outside of our building that the decisions weren't being made in our building.
And so, and because we were accessible, a lot of it came...
back to us.
I can't tell you how many emails and phone calls and conversations I had over that time period as these changes were being made about the changes.
And of course, anytime you're part of a big company, you carry out the orders.
execute them and then do the best you can.
And so that was really, really hard because I saw a lot of people that I really liked and respected and worked well with and knew what they meant to this community have to move on.
And then we, of course, heard from folks in the community that they didn't like that.
And that was understandable.
So it was really hard to try to help people understand.
This is not our fault.
And those of us left behind, we worked our butts off to try to maintain the standard.
Channel 9 was a market leader for so long.
And so we didn't want the quality of our work to suffer.
Obviously it did in some, just because we just didn't have the people there to help us pull off the things that we'd been doing before.
But now,
Now I think the company has recognized maybe they went too far with some of the cuts.
And there's some momentum, some positive momentum.
They're adding some positions and trying to kind of get it back to a spot where it's a little more doable.
You know, one of
the things, so many of the responsibilities fell on me after we cut.
positions.
And so for me, that was a big reason why I had to leave.
I was just, I was just exhausted.
I was burnt out.
And, and I recognized that we were on a positive upswing.
And I wanted to get out of the way to let somebody with some fresh energy come in and help build, build it back up into what it was.
So yeah, it was
it was a certain, certainly a trying time.
And I still hear about it.
I was just at the grocery store the other day and someone was talking to me about it.
So I know, and what that tells me is, is how much that station has truly meant to this area over the years.
And so, you know, I always try to keep that perspective as I know people are frustrated because they care.
And I was frustrated because I cared too.
And I still do.
So,
You know, it's hard to see and Alan Media is far from the only company making big changes like this across the nation.
Radio, it's happening too.
TV, it's happening.
You know, and so the media landscape is just changing and people are having a hard time figuring out how to keep up.
And so that was a problem for much smarter people than me.
So I said, I'm going to step aside and let other people try to figure that out.
And finally, what do you miss the most about not being in the television business?
Yeah,
I miss other than doing the state high school basketball tournament.
Yeah, I do.
I love that.
And yeah, that was one thing I made sure no matter what I was doing, that I got to be part of that still.
Yeah, I just miss being out in the community.
And even when I moved into the news director role,
You know as the sports director so in my first job as a reporter in Iowa I was out every day talking to people meeting new people to telling all these different stories You know and as I moved into the sports director role I was a little more tied to the station because I was anchoring and I was still getting the chance to shoot some but
And then as I moved into anchoring, you know, even less.
And so as I've moved up, that's the part that I've always missed is just being out and about and talking to people.
And so that's what I've appreciated about people coming up and talking to me over the years is that that still gives me that little bit of chance to be part of the community, but.
You know, I'll find my ways now
and I'll still
be very much involved.
I just won't be the guy that everybody knows from TV
So
which is
probably a lot of the time a good thing.
Yeah, my wife my wife
appreciates not all the random conversations
I Can't put that cart through the aisles at the grocery store without somebody, you know, yeah, yeah, you are Brad it's always good to talk to you.
Yeah and Fantastic that you're finding a success.
Thank you
And again, best of luck as you move in the future.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Thanks, Chad.
Brad Hanson, again, great to talk to him, great guy, and you can see why so many people do appreciate the work he did at WAOW for all those years and now at Green Heck Corporation as well.
Well, we'll take a time out and have more coming up.
It is the WXCO morning report on 98.9 WXCO.
is the WXCO Morning Report and I think we prove it's hip to be square every single morning here on 98.9 WXCO.
Sure do.
Online at wxco.fm, mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the Civic Media app.
Of course, we are part of mornings with Pat Crichtlow, Pat Scholl from six till nine AM each and every weekday morning and we come on for four different segments, seven and a half minutes at
6.52 AM, 7.22 AM, 7.52 AM, and 7.52 AM.
You heard that again.
That last
one
is 8.22.
You said 7.22
again.
Hey, I need a vacation.
I need a vacation.
I need my mind to be.
back to the razor sharp so 652 a.m.
722 a.m.
752 a.m.
and 822 a.m.
the four wxco morning report segments and again we get a chance to talk to interesting people from around central wisconsin yes
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And also as part of the WXCO Spotify and podcast listing, it is our WXCO daily news roundup as Isabella Nieto gives us the complete news wrap up from around Wausau and Central Wisconsin.
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So the real best way to do it is to go to Spotify or wherever your podcast, search WXCO news, subscribe to it, then you're able to
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And also you can go to our website wxco.fm and there at the top on the right hand side you'll see news and you'll see our pot you just click on
WXCO morning report for whatever day you're looking for and then you will get our show notes and there could be links to where you know important items and then also the podcast as well we'll also put links to the YouTube video of our interviews because sometimes we have such long interviews that there's too much there and then to be some extra that you want to tune into can listen
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So again, real easy, you can go to Spotify, go to wherever you get your podcasts, go to wxco.fm and catch up on each and every day right here on the WXCO morning report.
Absolutely.
And so much simpler to, you know, you can be on your exercise bike or wherever it may be and be able to
listen to us anywhere.
Yeah.
And that reminds us if you have not downloaded the civic media app yet,
what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?
So it's free.
It's free.
It will always be free.
And then you can listen to us.
In fact, I mean, as I go off on vacation, I can bring up the app and I can listen to see what Ian's up to and make sure that everything is going okay.
Keep an eye on
me.
There you go.
This gives an ear on
this.
But just go to your App Store, search Civic Media, and then just download the app.
It's real, real simple.
And then you'll have access not just to WXCO, but to every single.
Station and we just keep growing and growing and growing.
We're in the UP now the upper peninsula just recently yeah stations in upper Michigan on civic media So and if you are somebody that likes listening to our high school sports broadcast and you're not in the area You can tune in on the app as well So I mean it's really a great piece of technology and sometimes I'm down on technology, but in this case Are you big technology guy?
I'm definitely a bigger
the technology person.
I like to be on the computer quite often.
Sometimes
too much.
Yeah.
A lot longer than I probably should be.
I should be, you know, getting some exercise and
I should do some
productive stuff.
I'm trying to monitor that.
Yeah.
My computer usage a little more, a little less screen time, a little more, more, you know.
Human
interaction is what
we need, right?
Human interaction, absolutely.
So yeah, I mean.
The social.
Interaction of face-to-face is very important, especially in today's world.
Advice from Ian Welsh take it.
And also I know what people look forward to with Ian Welsh is at the very end of our WXCO morning reports.
It's our number of the day and our number of the day quiz.
And this week you are one for one so far.
Off to a good start.
In fact, because you got off to a good start yesterday, I'm going to use a similar topic, but in a different way.
Because
we
talked about the average driver in Wisconsin how much the average person drives every day in Wisconsin and It was approximately 41 miles per day.
Yeah, so every 41 miles per day the person drives in the state of Wisconsin But today's number of the day is along the same lines, but in a different way Okay, how many miles does the average driver in Wisconsin drive per year?
We said per day yesterday per year today Use your mind here to figure it out.
Okay.
All right.
Your choices are 15,300.
This is approximately 15,300 20,300 25,300 so 15,300 20,300
25,300.
How many miles does the average driver in Wisconsin drive per year?
I'm going to say final guess.
I'm going to say 25,300.
Final answer.
You know what you needed to do really quickly was to take 41 times 365.
I can't do math.
I can't do math
if I had that early.
Well, the answer turned out to be approximately
15,000.
Oh,
the smallest.
Well, if
you're going to miss, you may as well miss by a big chunk.
That's true.
I mean, it's better to lose by a blowout than by a tight one.
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, enjoy the rest of your day.
Thanks, Jed.
Happy Tuesday, everybody.
Have a great day.
