WDET 101.9 FM recently welcomed Program Director Adam Fox to the station.
WDET general manager Mary Zatina said she and her team hired Fox as the new program director May 8.
“We did a national search for several months looking for candidates who wanted to come to a station like ours and who had top notch skills to bring to Detroit,” Zatina said. “Throughout the whole process, I was always impressed with his knowledge, skills, and his leadership abilities. He’s a good leader, he’s collaborative and he works with people well. So, we decided Adam was our guy.”
WDET is Detroit’s NPR station, and produces a mix of music, culture and news-based content. According to WDET’s website, WDET has been supported by Wayne State since 1952 “to serve in the public’s interest.”
“Our journalists work hard to find the truth, but it’s not because someone is telling them what to write or what not to write. That’s really important for the lifestyle we value in this country. Journalists don’t want to do that work either, we want to find the truth,” Zatina said.
According to WDET, Fox grew up listening to the station from across the Detroit River in Ontario. Fox “most recently directed programming for Canada’s National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta.”
Fox said he was stunned when he found out he’d been hired as program director.
“It was shocking,” Fox said. “I’ll be honest, I feel like I’m still dreaming. I’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m just excited to be a part of the community.”
All of the different cultures and artistic values in metro Detroit make diversity within WDET a key focus. Their programming includes exposure to diverse communities, history, events, ideas and local organizations.
CultureShift is a segment on WDET that has been produced and hosted by Tia Graham since May 2022.
“I fell in love with arts and cultures, telling stories about musicians around here, artists around here, and especially local organizations,” Graham said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Fox said he thinks of diversity as something that brings people together.
“Diversity to me means accurate representation. I feel like it’s my great responsibility to make sure that programming at WDET represents the diversity of the communities that we serve. Diversity isn’t just about your city or backgrounds, it’s about culture, it’s about perspectives, it’s about art and music,” Fox said.
Zatina and Graham said they’re happy to have Fox as WDET’s newest director.
“It’s been great. The quality of his work is great, and his interpersonal skills are great,” Zatina said.
Zatina said she hopes Fox will bring “more listeners and people who love what they hear so they can become members.”
“WDET is excellent content, and we hope more Wayne State students (will) listen and more members of the community (will) listen. We want to make a bigger family of listeners,” she said.
Graham said she feels Fox has brought a fresh outlook to WDET.
“He’s definitely bringing new ideas and fresh ideas to WDET, and I really enjoy that. He’s giving us a little more freedom with talking with people we may have not talked to in the past about what they want to know and then just going from there to make sure that we are truly a community – especially because we are a public radio,” Graham said. “One of the things that Adam and I have talked about is making sure we’re reaching a younger audience so that way we are bringing in the next generation of people.”
Fox said he has many goals and plans for the future of WDET.
“I’ve been given a mandate to help increase WDET’s listenership, audience, and help draw more folks in to support our mission,” Fox said. “I feel strongly that we have a real opportunity to expand on our legacy of serving metro Detroit with non-commercial media, and increase the diversity of representation of the communities, music, and culture, and stories of our city. Ultimately, we want to bring more people under the WDET tent, (and) bring more of our community together.”
WDET has a variety of job offerings and paid internships at their station for people who are passionate and willing to learn more in a professional setting about journalism, social media marketing, sales and more.
“I always say to people, especially when they’re just starting out, do not get discouraged if things aren’t moving as fast as you were planning on. If this is something you really want to do and you’re passionate about it, take time to hone your craft and it will work out,” Graham said.
Fox also has advice for journalists.
“Say yes. I think it is incredibly valuable to take a chance to go to where other opportunities are. Even if you’re scared or if you’re unsure whether or not you can do it,” Fox said.
Fox said he’s had a great time at WDET and loves hearing feedback from WDET’s listeners.
“It’s been wonderful. Like I said, it feels kind of like a dream. There’s a lot of great, great people at WDET. I’m very grateful and very humbled. I know that I have a great challenge of responsibility,” Fox said. “Thank you. I really love hearing from folks and WDET is accessible so if you have opinions or thoughts about our programming and ways to improve, we’re always happy to hear about that.”
Angela Martinez is a contributing writer to The South End. Martinez can be reached at [email protected].
Cover photo by Conor Anderson.