YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – After 36 years, Gary Sexton is signing off on his career at WYSU radio.

The director of broadcasting at the National Public Radio affiliate for the past 25 years, he will call it quits after Dec. 31.

The station, owned and operated by Youngstown State University, is the region’s source for classical music and thoughtful talk programs.

“It’s a jewel of the community,” as Sexton, 69,  puts it.

The university has tapped Adam Earnheardt, who is a telecommunications professor, to serve as interim director of broadcasting for at least six months. Earnheardt worked in radio early in his career.

In addition to running WYSU, Sexton also hosts a classical music show every morning. He is considering whether he’ll continue to host a show after he retires.

Sexton’s long history at WYSU began shortly after he and his wife, Sue, moved to town in 1987 after she was hired as a trumpet professor.

Previously, the couple had lived in Colorado, Michigan and Mississippi, with Sue working at universities in those states.

Sexton was a freelance musician at the time – he played bass trombone – with a love for classical music and public radio. He became a member of  the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for a stint. He and his wife also had an ensemble, the Sheet and Tube brass quartet, that played at weddings, recitals and other events.

While Sexton had no experience in radio, he started working part-time at WYSU, putting together playlists and handling other tasks that suited his skills.

He would go on to learn the technical duties of radio and was hired as program director in 1990. In 2020, he was named executive director.

Sexton led the station into the era of digital technology but kept the spotlight on the classical music coming out of the speakers.

As his career comes to a close, he is filled with appreciation for the folks he worked with and the station’s devoted listeners.

“The business has changed so dramatically in all those years,” he said. “But a lot of things haven’t changed. You know who we are, what we represent, what we do. And the audience and the members who help support us are passionate about what we do. I’m leaving with a really good feeling about that. I feel like we were doing really good work, and there’s a bunch of people who appreciate that.”

Sexton is ready to let go of the administrative duties but will miss the musical part of the job.

“The part of the job that I came to love so much is hosting a classical music program – which was pretty cool because I came here because of my classical music background, not my radio background,” he said. “But for a lot of years, it was the [operational duties] that occupied me more than anything. In the last 10 or so years, my being more present with the audience became a bigger and bigger deal, especially after our main announcer for many, many years, Barbara Krauss, passed away about eight years ago. I kind of took over that part of it. It’s been really fun. I love that part.”

Finding Funds

WYSU was founded in 1969 and is a charter member of National Public Radio.

As a noncommercial station, it relies heavily on grants and donations, which means the funding outlook is always tenuous.

“I never felt totally comfortable that we’re all just cruising along,” Sexton said. “We have to dig and dig all the time, but we’ve always gotten through the rough spots.”

That included the sharp loss of revenue earlier this year caused by the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But the station’s listeners responded to the challenge.

“After that, we had the best fund drive ever,” Sexton said. “And we have other things going on to pursue stable funding sources. We’re going to make up that gap.”

The station’s broadcast zone extends from the southeast suburbs of Cleveland to the northwest suburbs of Pittsburgh, and from East Liverpool to Ashtabula.

It broadcasts at 50,000 watts of power from its transmitter on a tower on Youngstown’s south side. It also has broadcast translators in Ashtabula and New Wilmington, Pa., that boost coverage in those areas.

One aspect of Sexton that will continue after retirement is his penchant for long-distance running. 

Over the years, he has parlayed his running ability into a funding source, getting listeners to be sponsors of his mileage during races.

“Running is just a part of who I am, and it sort of evolved into something I did that I thought would inspire people,” he said.

It started with a 50-mile race about 25 years ago that raised money for a new transmitter.

“That really captivated people, and it became a thing,” he said. “I’ve done two or three more in the last seven years.”

Most recent was a 100-mile race in New Jersey in October that benefited WYSU’s fall fund drive. He  also completed runs for 65 miles when he reached that age, and for 88.5 miles to correspond with the station’s position on the radio dial.

Interim Director

Earnheardt, the YSU professor who will serve as interim director as of Jan. 1, has been learning the ropes this month.

He will split his time between the station and the classrooms, where he will continue to teach courses in the spring semester.

There is a chance Earnheardt could eventually take over the WYSU position full time, but for now he is not sure what will happen.

Working at the station is a return to where his career started.

“Radio was actually my first real big-boy job,” Earnheardt said. “I have worked for probably 10 different stations.”

He started at his college radio stations in Rochester, N.Y., and Clarion, Pa., and then went on to the promotions department at WDVE, a large rock station in Pittsburgh.

He would later go back to college for post-graduate degrees, while working part time at other stations.

“Before becoming an academic, it was my dream to work in radio,” he said.

When he started at YSU, Earnheardt was shocked that there was no [traditional] college radio station at the school. He would go on to launch RookeryRadio.com in 2011, YSU’s first student-run streaming station.

He won’t be on the air at WYSU, at least not initially. “If I do, it will be in a style that I am more familiar with, like jazz or blues,” he said.

He will focus most of his time on securing operational funding, although he has been thinking about ways to add listeners.

“This first month has been a learning experience,” Earnheardt said. “I’m trying to put all the pieces together. It’s a well-oiled machine, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m coming in as a caretaker, but I’ve got ideas. I’ve been sharing them with [staff], and they’ve been sharing their ideas with me. It’s a young group over there, and they’ve got

interesting ideas on what we can implement and how we can attract new listeners.”

Pictured at top: Gary Sexton sits behind the microphone in a studio at WYSU.