Back in the Day: Commentary Highlights

In the early 1990s a UW Oshkosh media student named Chris Lee approached me and asked if I would like to work with him to produce and host a public affairs TV program for the campus "Titan TV" channel. Chris had been in one of my classes, enjoyed my takes on the need to elevate public discourse in broadcast and cable media, and essentially challenged me to "put up or shut up." I had become friends with former Oshkosh Mayor James Mather, and I asked him if he would like to co-host. He said yes. Chris suggested we call the show "Commentary."

The late Don Mocker (center) was Provost at UW Oshkosh in the early 2000s. Don was one of the few administrators who appreciated the program, I think in part because he was an Education professor by trade and he understood deeply how grassroots media when done well can serve a powerful educational purpose in a community. The picture above was taken in March of 2001. Mr. Mather and I had earned a "National Communicator" award, and Don came on the program to present it to us. He praised the show for its "scholarly treatment of public issues." 

Commentary was remarkably successful from around 1991-1995; Jim and I interviewed a range of candidates for public office, community activists, academics,journalists, and many others. We used to close the program with "parting shots," brief statements offering opinions on affairs of the day. After Chris graduated we had a number of students who volunteered to work on the program. The UW Oshkosh administration never liked the show, largely because of my tendency to tell the truth and name names, so it always seemed like a struggle to remain on the air. (Someday if I am up to it I will write about this in more depth.).

I suspended the program in 1996 because I was recruited to run for the state assembly--a major time commitment while continuing to teach full-time at the university. I lost the assembly race, but then became chairperson of the Department of Communication in 1997--another huge time commitment. So I thought Commentary was over for good.

Around 1998 or 1999 Doug Freshner, a UW Oshkosh videographer, asked me if I would like to re-start the program. Doug had been a fan of the show in its original inception, and he had a nice little studio in Dempsey Hall. I was able to get Mr. Mather to come back, and so we had another successful run from about 1999-2003.

The video below is a compilation of photos from some of the 1998-2003 shows. The highlight for me personally was 2002, when we were able to get most of the Democrats running for governor that year to actually come to Oshkosh for an interview. We also interviewed Ed Thompson (Tommy's brother), who was running as a Libertarian that year--he was one of the most engaging and funny people I've ever met.

Commentary was a good example of how to do local cable access media that matters. Mather and I took the program seriously, showed respect towards our guests by asking them questions that they perceived as thoughtful, and we stuck with it even in the face of petty bullying by administrators and other "powerful" people in the community.