Preserving firsthand memory
Share Your WMRN Story
WMRN’s history lives not only in recordings, photographs, and documents, but also in the memories of the people who worked at the station, appeared on its programs, partnered with it, or listened throughout the years.
The WMRN Radio History Archive is collecting and preserving recorded firsthand memories that help document WMRN’s people, programming, operations, community service, special events, and place in Marion’s broadcast history.
Visitors may explore oral histories that have been completed, processed, and cleared for public access—or learn how to contribute their own memories to the historical record.
Whether you worked behind a microphone, in the newsroom, in sales, engineering, programming, administration, promotions, or another part of the station—or simply have meaningful memories as a listener or community partner—your story may preserve details that exist nowhere else.
Completed and approved interviews
Explore the Oral History Collection
Only completed records cleared for public access appear here. Recording an interview does not automatically make it public.
No oral-history interviews are currently available online. Interviews will appear here as they are completed, documented, and cleared for public access.
About the project
Building a Collection of Firsthand Memory
The WMRN Radio History Archive is building this oral-history collection over time. These interviews complement broadcast recordings, photographs, documents, promotional materials, equipment, community-event records, and personal collections.
Memories are valuable historical evidence, but recollections can also be subjective. The archive may compare oral-history testimony with documentary records and other interviews rather than treating every recollection as conclusive proof of every detail.
Why oral histories matter
Memories Complete the Historical Record
Official records, broadcasts, promotional materials, and photographs do not always capture what happened behind the scenes, how programs were produced, how the station served the community, what the workplace was like, how technologies and formats changed, or how important broadcasts and events were remembered.
Firsthand accounts can also preserve the personal relationships among staff, guests, listeners, advertisers, and community partners. Not every proposed interview will be recorded or published, but relevant memories can help the archive ask better questions and understand surviving materials.
What oral histories can add
- Behind-the-scenes station routines
- Program production and newsroom work
- Engineering, format, and technology changes
- Community service, remotes, and special events
- Context for people, recordings, photographs, and objects
Participation
Who We Hope to Hear From
You do not need to consider yourself a historian, broadcaster, or professional storyteller. An oral-history interview is simply a guided conversation about what you remember.
- Former WMRN-AM and WMRN-FM employees
- On-air personalities and news staff
- Engineers, sales staff, and administrative staff
- Programming and promotions staff
- Interns and volunteers
- Program guests, advertisers, and community partners
- Buckeye Chuck and Peanut Push participants
- People involved in station-sponsored community events
- Family members with relevant firsthand knowledge or preserved material
- Listeners with meaningful memories of programs, personalities, events, or community coverage
Two distinct stages
What to Expect
Participation begins with a private 30-minute planning call. A formal recorded interview—normally scheduled for up to approximately 90 minutes—is arranged separately and privately after the planning call and consent discussion.
Tell us about your WMRN connection
Use the website form to provide basic information about your connection to WMRN and what you may wish to discuss.
Schedule a planning call
The private introductory call covers your background, possible subjects, recording options, accessibility needs, scheduling, and consent. It is not ordinarily recorded as the formal interview.
Review consent and recording arrangements
Before recording, the archive explains how the interview may be preserved, described, quoted, reproduced, presented, or made available.
Schedule the formal interview
The recorded interview is scheduled privately after the planning call and consent discussion. Its private scheduling link is not published on this page.
Record the conversation
The interview is conversational and may last up to approximately 90 minutes. Shorter sessions, pauses, and breaks may be arranged.
Preserve and document the recording
The archive preserves and describes the material according to the agreed consent and access terms.
Process the interview
Processing may include descriptive metadata, an access copy, a summary, and a transcript or accurate transcript-status notice.
Review access requirements
The interview remains offline until rights, privacy, restrictions, consent, technical preparation, and archival processing have been addressed.
Publish an approved public record
Only interviews cleared for public access may appear in the collection with appropriate descriptive and rights information.
Interviews may take place through Microsoft Teams, by phone, or in person when practical. Audio is the primary preservation format unless video is specifically arranged. Follow-up questions or identification requests may occur later.
Private introductory conversation
Schedule a Planning Call
Before a formal recorded interview is scheduled, prospective participants are encouraged to arrange a private planning call with the archive.
Schedule a private 30-minute conversation with Brendon Hamblin to discuss your connection to WMRN, possible interview topics, recording arrangements, scheduling, accessibility needs, and the oral-history consent process. Microsoft Teams is used unless another method is arranged.
Schedule a 30-Minute Planning Call on Microsoft Bookings; opens in a new tabRights, privacy, and access
Your Consent and Your Choices
The formal recorded interview will not begin until the participant understands the project and agrees to be recorded. Scheduling a planning call is not formal consent, and submitting the website form is not publication permission.
Before recording, the archive will explain possible preservation, description, quotation, reproduction, presentation, and access. Participants may ask questions, discuss how their name should appear, identify topics they do not wish to discuss, and discuss temporary restrictions or delayed public access.
Copyright, ownership, privacy, preservation, and access terms should be documented in writing. Public availability depends on the written agreement, archive policy, processing status, privacy concerns, restrictions, and technical readiness. Edited excerpts should preserve the meaning and context of the original interview.
Participants should receive or be offered a copy of the completed agreement and may wish to seek independent advice before signing if they have questions about their rights. This page is not legal advice.
The oral-history consent and release agreement will be provided and reviewed before recording.
During the conversation
You Remain in Control
Participants may skip a question, pause the conversation, request a break, end the interview, correct or clarify a factual statement, ask how a quotation may be used, ask how the recording may be accessed, identify topics they do not wish to discuss, and request discussion of restrictions before signing the final agreement.
Any later withdrawal or change to donated material depends on the terms of the signed agreement and archive policy; this page does not create a promise that conflicts with those written terms.
Interview interest
Tell Us About Your WMRN Connection
This form gathers background information. Microsoft Bookings is a separate action used to select an available planning-call time.
Privacy notice
Information submitted through this form will be used to respond to your request, prepare for a planning call, discuss scheduling, and evaluate a possible oral-history interview. Submitting this information does not automatically make it part of the public archive.
Information may be retained as necessary to document communication, scheduling, consent, and the development of the proposed interview.
Frequently asked questions
Questions About Participating
Do I need to have worked at WMRN?
No. Former employees are especially encouraged to participate, but meaningful firsthand memories from listeners, guests, community partners, advertisers, event participants, and family members may also be valuable.
Is the planning call recorded?
The planning call is not ordinarily recorded as the formal oral-history interview. Recording would require separate discussion and consent.
Is the formal interview public automatically?
No. Recording, preservation, quotation, reproduction, and public access depend on the written consent and access terms agreed upon with the participant.
How long does the process take?
The public planning call is scheduled for 30 minutes. The formal interview may be scheduled for up to approximately 90 minutes, although shorter sessions may be arranged.
Can I decline to answer something?
Yes. Participants may skip questions, request a pause, or end the conversation.
Can I participate remotely?
Yes. Microsoft Teams or phone interviews may be arranged. In-person interviews may be possible when practical.
What should I bring?
Participants may bring notes, photographs, recordings, documents, memorabilia, dates, names, or other material that may help guide the conversation.
Will every interview appear on the website?
No. Preservation and public access depend on relevance, technical quality, rights, privacy, consent, restrictions, and the archive’s processing capacity.
Why might an interview not appear immediately?
An interview may require preservation work, description, transcript preparation, factual clarification, consent review, privacy review, access decisions, or technical processing before it can be made available.
Does scheduling transfer my rights?
No. Scheduling a planning call does not transfer copyright or grant publication permission.
How do I explore completed interviews?
Completed interviews that have been processed and approved for public access will appear in the Explore the Oral History Collection section of this page.
Help preserve Marion’s broadcast history