The MetroNews Radio Network signed on the air 40 years ago this week. It was August 12, 1985, at 5:55 a.m. when the first newscast aired statewide on our new satellite distribution system.
It was an anxious day, as you would expect with any new venture, and we were not quite ready. Engineer Chuck Snodderly had worked overnight and was still completing the necessary wiring minutes before we went on the air.
I wrote and anchored that first newscast, the first of an estimated 160,000 newscasts the MetroNews team would air over the next four decades.
The network was the brainchild of then-company president Dale Miller and our company owner John Raese. “We thought there was a need for it,” Miller said as he reflected on the network’s creation.
And there was.
Miller traveled the state, visiting radio stations and signing them up as affiliates. All those original 37 stations remain part of the network today, along with many more, as our reach expanded to all corners of our state.
Over the years, the network’s offerings have expanded dramatically to include news and sports talk shows, morning news blocks, high school sports tournaments, and our latest addition of MetroNews Television.
A few of us got together for dinner Tuesday night to celebrate the milestone. We told stories of good times and bad, repeatedly thanked Dale for his vision and guidance through the years, and praised John for his support.
Our North Star since the network’s inception has been to provide quality news and sports programming to our state—to be the Voice of West Virginia. Sometimes we may fall short, and we make mistakes because we are human, but we set the bar high and strive to reach it on an hourly and daily basis.
We believe that West Virginia is a special place. Even though we have these disparate regions, there is a commonality that binds us together. We are connected by way of the daily events. Folks in Southern West Virginia empathize with flood victims in Wheeling. Sports fans in Parkersburg can marvel at the accomplishments of a team from Martinsburg. And all of us want to know—need to know—what is happening at the State Capitol and what our political leaders are doing and saying.
We try to deliver the information professionally. We remind ourselves that we are only as good as our last newscast or sportscast, talk show, or game broadcast. And, most importantly, we depend on each other. A cornerstone of the network has been professional working relationships that, in some cases, have lasted for decades.
“What really made MetroNews what it is was the incredible quality of the staff and the longevity of the staff,” Miller said. “There are very few radio companies that have ever existed that have had the incredible longevity of the people we have.” (Think of the names Tony Caridi, Jeff Jenkins, Chris Lawrence, Fred Persinger, Kyle Wiggs, Travis Jones. In sales, Joe Parsons and Larry Pfost.)
Those of us who spoke at Tuesday night’s dinner, after thanking Dale and John, reflected on what MetroNews has meant to us personally as well as professionally. For me it has meant having a fulfilling career in a family-owned business while working with individuals who have become life-long friends.
I hope that along the way, we have helped keep you better informed about our state, and that we can continue to fulfill that obligation for the next 40 years.