Uncategorized

University of Georgia to hold reunion for Georgia’s first public TV station

University of Georgia to hold reunion for Georgia’s first public TV station

Athens. Ga. – A reunion for the staff of Georgia’s first public broadcasting outlet is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.

WGTV Channel 8, which broadcasted from the University of Georgia campus until 1982, first flipped its on-air switch in May of 1960 and has been steadily feeding viewers public programming ever since.

The reunion offers the staff a chance to rekindle memories and catch up on personal news for the first time since many left Athens.

“You always look back fondly on your first television job,” said Bill Evelyn, a videographer and production manager at UGA who worked at WGTV from 1980-82. “Since working at WGTV, some of our careers have taken us away from Athens, and some of us have stayed here.”

The reunion is the brainchild of Bob Castro, former on-air technician for WGTV in the late 1970s who now works out of Atlanta, and Libby Bolling, an executive producer for a news show in Florida.

“For most of us, this was our first broadcast job. Bob wanted to do a reunion for a lot of us who had the same experience and to honor the people who have kept the station going all this time,” Evelyn said.

After spreading news of the reunion by word of mouth, about 40 guests are planning to attend from across the nation. Many still have jobs in television, Evelyn said.

“This is going to be Cokes, sandwiches and sharing old war stories,” Evelyn said. “We’ll meet each other’s kids and relive some of the memorable moments of working at the station.”