Here & Now

Honoring Gene Purcell

Frederica Freyberg:

Some sad news to close the program. PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio lost their leader this week. It is with great sorrow that we report that Gene Purcell, director of Wisconsin Public Media, passed away last weekend after a traffic accident. Gene became our director in 2018, after heading the Educational Communications Board for 10 years. His love for public radio and television was informed by his deep appreciation of public media’s mission: to educate, inspire, entertain, and to help strengthen communities. Gene will live on, as one staffer put it this week, in the public airwaves. We extend our deepest condolences to his family. He was a kind and talented man. He will be missed.