{"id":15046,"date":"2024-06-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=15046"},"modified":"2024-06-10T10:20:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T14:20:01","slug":"big-shoes-to-fill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/big-shoes-to-fill\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBig shoes to fill\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s said that you\u2019re always supposed to leave something better than when you\u2019ve found it, and that\u2019s the case for Gerry Weston<\/strong> upon his arrival at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore seven years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Weston, the general manager of WESM, and later Delmarva Public Media, calls it a career on June 28, he leaves both WESM and the public radio station partnership in a better position than he found it. In all, Weston\u2019s involvement in radio spans nearly 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started to think that maybe it was my time to step aside, let someone else come in with new blood and new energy,\u201d Weston, 72, said. \u201cWe have a great thing going now, and to develop Delmarva Public Media with three stations instead of one \u2026 it\u2019s a great opportunity for this organization to take the next step forward and strive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Delmarva Public Media general manager Gerry Weston is retiring on June 28 after 50 years in radio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As WESM general manager, Weston facilitated essential technical upgrades to the station, including the repairs to the station\u2019s tower, a new transmitter, replacement of the previous antenna that was struck by lightning, the installation of the station\u2019s new roof, and the ongoing renovations of all three studios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a lot for the station and we\u2019ve come a long way,\u201d said Daphne Chatham<\/strong>, the business office and bookkeeping specialist for Delmarva Public Radio. \u201cBut the collaboration was the biggest thing. Bringing three stations together was huge. Those are big shoes to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weston\u2019s collaboration with Salisbury University led to the formation of Delmarva Public Media<\/a>, comprised of the jazz, blues, and NPR news format of WESM, classical radio station WSCL, and the \u201crhythm and news\u201d format of WSDL. Delmarva Public Media\u2019s launching, which happened in the middle of the pandemic, pooled together resources each of the stations lacked in one way or the other \u2013 management, fundraising operations, and on-air personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGerry\u2019s personality and style lent itself to marshaling the resources of both universities to the idea of maximizing their exposure,\u201d said Rick Givens<\/strong>, a member of Delmarva Public Media\u2019s Community Advisory Board. \u201cThe partnership shows the initiative and foresight that only a person with his capacity could usher in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Givens, who previously worked closely with Weston during their time at Salisbury University, said Weston\u2019s radio expertise was key to his staying power in the evolving medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe thing that comes to mind instantly is his passion and love for radio,\u201d Givens said. \u201cHis knowledge and experience of leading a radio station has positioned the management and the organization to succeed upon his departure and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The person leading that future is Judy Diaz<\/strong>, Delmarva Public Media\u2019s deputy manager, who assumes Weston\u2019s role in the interim. Diaz said the three-station format allows the organization to be \u201cmore experimental\u201d including the addition of more homegrown content coming from students at both UMES and SU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have students who are interested in creating jazz content, students interested in creating news content, and students interested in possibly creating urban alternatives,\u201d she said. \u201cIn moving into those other formats, we can work with them to build and define the next generation of public media content and public media leaders. That\u2019s something that can be attributed to all the work Gerry\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the future of Delmarva Public Media, Weston wants to make sure that the musical programming doesn\u2019t become an afterthought as the station continues to grow its presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that there\u2019s a sensibility, not only for news and public affairs, but also for music,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we cover local news on Delmarva, but the music is also important for WESM and for WSCL.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s said that you\u2019re always supposed to leave something better than when you\u2019ve found it, and that\u2019s the case for Gerry Weston upon his arrival at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore seven years ago. As Weston, the general manager of WESM, and later Delmarva Public Media, calls it a career on June 28, he…Read more \u201cBig shoes to fill\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1559,"featured_media":15049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-15046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15046"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=15046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}