KALAMAZOO, MI – Sometimes the wrong door can turn out to be the right one. That's how Glen Dillon says he got his start in radio, during his time as a student at Western Michigan University.
"I stumbled through the wrong door at Faunce and walked into WIDR," he said during a phone interview.
The Paw Paw native went on to a career on the air in Southwest Michigan, including three stints at WKFR 103.3 FM. In addition to morning host, Dillon worked as a program director, promotions director and music director, he said. He also worked in direct sales for Greenleaf Hospitality.
Now, more than 25 years later, he's back at Faunce.
Dillon returned to his alma mater in mid-February as the new assistant director of student media. He will advise the three student-run media groups, which include the Western Herald newspaper and the Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow (YBOT), as well as WIDR-FM (89.1).
The radio station, however, airs in a different world than when Dillon was a student in the mid-1980s.
Facing a loss of university funding as of last June, the three student-run media groups launched a successful "Save Student Media" campaign that resulted in WMU students voting in favor of a $5-per-semester fee that gives the groups a stable source of funding and unite them under one umbrella.
The groups are currently finalizing their charter and the make-up of their board. Dillon's hiring is also part of the plan, which seeks to bring a sense of continuity and stability to groups that, by necessity, see their staff turnover on a regular basis.
"Creating a model that's sustainable over the long term is important," he said.
That, obviously, is something that all forms of media – and not just the student-run ones – are grappling with in a digital-first environment.
At this point, change has become the one constant, Dillon said.
"All media has changed. If you look back, 20 almost 30 years, it's just radically different than it was," he said. "It's not just coming in and doing a show anymore. It's blogging, web-work, doing podcast portions. It's so much broader than it used to be."
That crossover actually could benefit the groups, he said, once they identify areas where they can work as a team without compromising their identity. The Western Herald dates back to 1916 on campus, while WIDR first aired in 1952, out of a trailer in Kalamazoo. The newest student-media group, YBOT, was formed in 2012.
"From the standpoint of back-in-the-day, they (media) were standalone islands that all existed very well on their own. That's not the case anymore. That's something we maybe want to mimick at Western," he said.
"Is there an opportunity to do that down the road, potentially? It seems logical that there would be a nice marriage or a good place for someone involved at WIDR, who is passionate about a music style, say, to do a review for the Western Herald or a segment for YBOT," Dillon offered as one example.
It also would offer students more "real-world experience that will be incredibly invaluable to them," he said. Opportunities to gain experience in several forms of media could be a "gold mine for someone who is creative, outgoing."
While Dillon doesn't have print or broadcast experience, he has colleagues in both media who have described similar changes in their workplaces during the rise of first the Internet and then social media.
"Many of the things I've gone through during my career are the same in those worlds as well," Dillon said. "It gives me great reassurance that –while different on some levels – that part will be easier to grasp for me. There are a lot of commonalities between the worlds."
Dillon, whose family owned Dillon's Drug Store in Paw Paw, said he felt privileged that he and his family were able to remain in Southwest Michigan. And because his entire career has taken place in Kalamazoo, he said it gives him a deeper understanding of what some of the changes in the industry have meant over the long term.
"Because I stayed in Kalamazoo and was able to wear a lot of hats and worked together with a lot of people over a long period of time, I've been able to see how some of the short-term decisions have played out over the long-term," he said.
Both Dillon and his wife, Sara, are Broncos, as was Dillon's mom, he said. The chance to work for WMU was an opportunity he couldn't resist.
"It's just cool to be able to come back, give back and do some awesome work for the students at Western," he said. "Hopefully, we can move that ship in a really great direction to have something that Western, the community and the students can be proud of for years to come."
Yvonne Zipp is a staff writer at the Kalamazoo Gazette. Email her at yzipp@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.