Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Interviews with news makers and discussion of topics important to Southwest Michigan. Subscribe to the podcast through Apple itunes and Google. Segments of interview are heard in WestSouthwest Brief during Morning Edition and All Things Considered

WestSouthwest: StoryCorps Founder David Isay

StoryCorps

WestSouthwest: StoryCorps Founder David Isay
Interview with David Isay

    

Award winning public radio producer David Isay launched StoryCorps in 2003. The oral history project has since collected nearly 50,000 interviews. 

StoryCorps has started a series of special projects over the years. The most recent is the Military Voices Initiative, which began last year. The Military Voices Initiative collected stories in Kalamazoo last week at the studios of WMUK. 

Isay tells WMUK's Gordon Evans that the Military Voices Initiative gives service members, veterans and their families a chance to leave a record, tell their story and listen. Isay says the Military Voices Initiative was inspired by the death of Cpl. Matthew T. Bolar. The son of WMUK General Manager Gordon Bolar was killed while on active duty in Iraq in 2007. That happened shortly after StoryCorps' residency in Kalamazoo came to and end. 

In the interview, the discuss StoryCorps' 10th anniversary coming this fall, and how his radio career got an unexpected start. 

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.
Related Content