Wisconsin
Honorees
2009
Paul Joseph
While growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Paul Joseph’s love of the weather started at the very young age of ten. Determined to become a meteorologist, Paul studied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Paul began his professional career with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. In 1970, he and his wife Judy moved to Milwaukee where Paul became the very first broadcast meteorologist on Milwaukee television. Following a 36 year career forecasting Milwaukee’s very interesting and challenging weather for WTMJ-TV, Paul retired as Chief Meteorologist in 2006 . Throughout his career, Paul has won recognition and countless awards, In 1991, the National Weather Association named Paul their Radio/ Television Broadcaster of the year. In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the AMS for his work in the improvement of broadcast meteorology and weather education, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. And in 2001, he was recognized by the American Meteorological Society with its highest honor for a broadcaster, the Award for Outstanding Service. Paul was honored by the Milwaukee Press Club and inducted into the Media Hall of Fame in 2008. Paul Joseph has always had a great love of teaching meteorology. He has taught both at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and, since 1988, has been a member of the Physics Department faculty at Marquette University. Paul’s hobbies include tennis, swimming, bike riding, movies, the theatre, and traveling, especially by train. Paul and Judy have designed rail tours and led groups all over the world. They have four children, three son-in-laws, one daughter-in-law, and five grandchildren. They see great potential energy for more grandchildren in the future.
Kathy Mykleby
Challenges, rewards, awards. Those elements help sum up any career. The Silver Circle award now tops my list on all counts. To earn an award with the blessing of my peers is humbling. The challenge is to live up to it. The reward is to live up to it. My broadcast career started in grade school, but it wasn't until college that it took shape. One big challenge was when the journalism school at the University of Iowa lost accreditation in the turbulent 1970s. I sought my parents’ advice. They challenged me to "design your own major." I did. It turned out to be a great mix of journalism, political science, history, etc. We called it Communications Studies and it has since become an institution at the University of Iowa. As a result, my 33 year career has been filled with rewards, challenges and dozens of awards. When asked to say what stands out, I say everything from covering city hall, to assignments in Afghanistan and Somalia, from covering a presidential impeachment trial to a commitment to four area Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations. • Press Club awards for various stories including a remarkable Scared Straight seminar set up by convicts serving live terms. • A Chicago/Midwest Emmy® for coverage of the Jeffrey Dahmer case. • State and regional Associated Press awards for coverage of a very little boy's last wish. • Wisconsin Broadcasting awards for marathon coverage of devastating flooding. • Edward R. Murrow awards for our nightly broadcasts. The challenges, the rewards and awards come with memories of staggering and glorious news events. I'll tell you how it all started in grade school when I accept this honor and highlight the challenges and rewards of this profession..
Bill Werner
Bill Werner served as a Milwaukee Public Television producer and director from 1981 until his 2008 retirement. He executive produced The Making of Milwaukee – the five-hour historical documentary which won 2007 Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy Awards for Documentary of Historic Significance & Music Composition. His work has also been honored with three CINE Golden Eagles Awards, a Gabriel Award, a Silver Award from the New York Film Festival and a 1997 Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Award. Bill’s MPTV performance programs have showcased the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Skylight Opera, Milwaukee Ballet, Florentine Opera, and Ko-Thi Dance Company. Other programs have highlighted the creativity and talents of the Trinity Irish Dancers, the Bo-Deans, Milwaukee Irish Fest, the Marcus Center’s Rainbow Summer and the musical series: It’s Called Jazz. His documentary work is extensive and includes: Building the Denis Sullivan, the story of Milwaukee’s tall ship; A Sense of Fairness, a biography of Frank Zeidler; Milwaukee’s Hmong: A People Between Two Worlds, Before the Bars, and The Vanishing Dream, about Mil- waukee’s de-industrialization. Arts-related documentaries were Clay Stomp. Etched in Acid. Virgin Forest, & Dancing Anna Karenina. Bill was Executive Producer of Arts’ Place – a five-season MPTV arts magazine with producers Claudia Looze, Darlyne Haertlein, and Anthony Wood; and also for documentaries: Milwaukee Between the Wars, Love in War, Milwaukee: The War Years and Partner to Genius. He produced/directed The Business of Wisconsin and 4th Street Forum. A Denver native, Bills holds masters degrees in Television/Radio from Syracuse University and Music History from the University of Denver. In another life he was a percussionist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra.
Joanne Williams
Her career began in high school when she hosted the teen talk show on Milwaukee’s WAWA. Two weeks after graduating with honors from Northwestern, she started working for WTMJ. In 1973, Joanne and Pete Wilson started The Morning Scene – the first 30-minute, early morning TV newscast in Milwaukee. That was followed by several years at WGN in Chicago as a reporter, writer and part-time weathercaster. She covered stories from the death of Mayor Daley to the 1977 blizzard. She returned as WITI’s Community Relations Director in 1978, spearheading many projects, including The Disabled Are Able, which was nominated for a daytime Emmy®. In 1982, Joanne returned to the WITI newsroom and wore many hats as reporter and anchor during her tenure. Over the years, Joanne hosted live call-in programs, town hall meetings, and participated in thousands of community events on behalf of FOX6. She was the host and segment producer for Milwaukee Public Television’s Black Nouveau which won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2012 and won the Bronze award from the Milwaukee Press Club for Best Documentary for news special for the program Harry Kemp: The Photography Man. Joanne was a regional director on the board of the National Association of Black Journalists, a founding member of the Wisconsin Black Media Association, past president of the Milwaukee Press Club and has served on many boards and committees of agencies in Milwaukee and nationally including the Milwaukee Tennis and Education Foundation and the Foundation board of Ten Chimneys. She is a member of the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame. and a Silver Circle honoree in 2009. At her retirement party, her son said he and his brother would miss FOX6 because they felt like they grew up in a television station as much as at home. They are both in college now, studying television production at MATC and Digital Culture (Film) at Arizona State University.
Melodie Wilson Oldenburg
Melodie Wilson Oldenburg , most recently senior political reporter for Fox6 Milwaukee, has been an anchor/reporter on the move, covering everything from education to business, from labor to Presidential inaugurals and town hall meetings and opening the door to trade with China. Her assignments took her to Asia, Europe and Central America. Melodie awards, includes The Milwaukee Society of Professional Journalists’ Award of Excellence and Milwaukee Press Club awards for election coverage, Fact Checks of political advertising, Crisis in Kenosha, and her coverage of the C-130 crash in Honduras. She has also been honored by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Civic Alliance, Wisconsin Education Association, Bar Association of the 7th Circuit, American Women in Radio and TV, Kiwannis, Lakeland College and the Milwaukee Public Relations Society of America, & Marion Center. Before coming to Milwaukee, Melodie reported and anchored at WDIO-TV Duluth and worked as both a newspaper reporter and photographer in Virginia, Minnesota. She earned a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Born in Oakland, California, she grew up in St. Paul Melodie is the founder of ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. ABCD is a nonprofit organization begun in 1999 to provide free, personalized information and one-to-one support to people affected by breast cancer. The breast cancer survivors and co-survivors ABCD has trained to be mentors have provided support to more than 3,000 people. She’s been involved in a number of organizations related to breast cancer and health and had a leadership role in establishing the Milwaukee affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, serving as founding president. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Medical College of Wisconsin and was also the founding chair of the MCW Cancer Center Advisory Board. Melodie and her husband, businessman Wayne Oldenburg have four children: Morgan 25, Courtney, 24, Lauren, 22, and Ryan, 18.
Carl Zimmermann
It’s highly probable that Carl has seen more years of broadcasting than any other TV personality in Milwaukee. He is best known as the longtime News Director, Anchor and Editorialist at WITI. Among his career highlights was the news anchor position at 6 p.m. & 10 p.m. with the team of Earl Gillespie (sports), Ward Allen and Albert. (weather). Carl’s desire to be a broadcaster began at 12 when he created brief newscasts for his father with excerpts from the newspaper. He was on the air throughout his high school years, but the death of his Father put Carl into a full-time job while attending college classes at night. He later worked at WTAQ (now WBAY) Green Bay, WINN in Louisville, before being drafted into the military. After being acccepted to and graduating from Officer Training School as a Lieutenant, he joined Military Intelligence. He married Doris (Doree) Loftis and he was shipped overseas for two years. An auspicious beginning to a marriage that is now celebrating more than 66 years of happiness. Carl became a combat war correspondent for NBC Army Hour and assisted all network correspondents in covering front-line action. He crossed paths with Edward R. Murrow & Eric Severeid and served in Africa, Italy, France and Germany. He was awarded the Bronze Star. When Storer obtained station WITI, Carl joined as News Director and built the station’s news operation from the ground up. He began writing and delivering daily editorials which won numerous awards. Carl remained active in civic and professional organizations and served on the Board of Directors of the national Radio Television News Directors Association. Carl has been honored with many awards including the Alfred P. Sloan Award and the Award of Excellence in Journalism from Sigma Delta Chi. He was inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame Award from The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. Carl and Doree have been blessed with five children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.