WVIK 90.3 FM |
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| From full-time employees to the hosts of your favorite program or feature, meet the people you hear on the air, and those who work behind the scenes. | ||
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Born in Philadelphia, PA, and raised in Brazil and the United States, Bruce de Gouveia Carter received his bachelor's degree in Art and English from Notre Dame in 1970. Bruce then travelled the western hemisphere for a few years before landing in Iowa City for graduate studies with Lasansky in Printmaking.
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 Having originally come to the Quad Cities to teach at Marycrest College, he remains deeply involved in the area's art scene. Bruce's artwork is primarily in oil crayon, painting "interior landscapes" in vibrant colors.
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 Faye Clow is a Wisconsin native and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Library Science. She first ventured out of Wisconsin in 1969 to become a research librarian at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
From there she moved west to Moline, Illinois where she was Assistant Director and Fine Arts Librarian at the Moline Public Library. In 1978 she landed "the job of my dreams:" |
Director of the Bettendorf Public Library Information Center. BPLIC is ranked in the top ten libraries in the nation in its population range.Encouragement of the arts and humanities in the Quad Cities has been a major emphasis of her work, not only through the library but through work with Quad City Arts, the Genesius Theater Guild Board, CommUniversity, WQPT Public Television, the WVIK Public Radio Foundation, and the Humanities Iowa Board. |
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 A native of Moline, Dave earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio/Television from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He came to WVIK early in 1987 as an engineering assistant, picking up necessary skills along the way.
As Operations Manager and Chief Operator of WVIK, Dave helps keep the technical side of the station running, maintaining automation and audio production systems. As an audio engineer, Dave is responsible for the production of Quad City Symphony, Nova Singers, and Handel Oratorio Society concerts, as well as programs like Rock Island Lines, Quad City Oral Histories, About Books, and Art Talks. |
As the station's in-house graphic designer, Dave produces much of the printed material that comes out of WVIK; t-shirts, invitations, bus ads, etc. He has also hosted the classical music program “Sunday Morning” since 1989, and began hosting "Morning Classics" in March of 2008. Outside of the office, Dave enjoys researching genealogy with his wife Jill Seaholm, an expert in Swedish immigration genealogy who works in Augustana’s Swenson Center, and has travelled to Sweden and Denmark to visit new-found relatives. Dave and Jill reside in Rock Island with their ornery cat Tucker and sweet beagle Greta. (Based on a Communique profile by Kristen D. Schipper) |
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A native of Hooper, Nebraska, Mindy Heusel came to WVIK in 1982 as a student at Augustana College. A strong musical background prepared her for a career as a classical music announcer. Mindy studied piano from the age of 3 and flute from the sixth grade, was a frequent piano accompanist, and was named a Promising Young Musician in the State of Nebraska in 1979.
Mindy started at WVIK on the evening shift, one night a week. But not long after the station began overnight service, Mindy took on the graveyard shift and her job expanded to a full six nights. In 1985, she moved to days, and began her long tenure as host of Perspective, WVIK's afternoon classical music program. |
Mindy resides in Bettendorf with her husband Jay and their four children, Jenna, Jared, Mari, and Lerrin. |
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Jim Peterson Co-producer of Quad City Oral Histories, Public Service Director |
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| What do writing cartoons, managing a camera store, teaching in an inner-city high school, working in public radio and losing on Jeopardy! have in common? If you know the answer, please tell Jim Peterson because he isn’t sure either. Returning home to Rock Island after 14 years of dropping anvils on unsuspecting animated |  characters in California, Jim looked for ways to be involved in the media and the arts while being a stay-at-home dad for his three young children. WVIK was the perfect fit. |
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 Sonita Oldfield-Carlson is a native of the Quad Cities area, and has served the community for 13 years in the not-for-profit sector, holding positions in fund-raising, public relations, and education.
As Director of Development, she comes to WVIK Augustana Public Radio after previously serving as education director for the Quad City Botanical Center, and prior to that, |
vice president of communications for United Way of the Quad Cities Area. She was also grant writer/planner for a Davenport-based social service agency.Sonita and her family currently reside in an old house in the Keystone Neighborhood of Rock Island. Her hobbies include gardening-especially with children-and the outdoors, and cooking and reading. She grew up in Atkinson, in nearby Henry County, where her grandparents were lifelong farmers and her parents planted big gardens. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. |
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After working at Cottage Hospital in Galesburg for 7 years as a respiratory therapist, Michelle moved to Carbondale to study broadcasting at Southern Illinois University. She auditioned for a position in the newsroom at WSIU Public Radio, and volunteered as a reporter and anchor there for two years. She also was a part-time reporter for WDDD in Marion, Illinois, and a reporter and anchor at "Rockin' Radio," WCIL-FM in Carbondale. In 1995, Michelle was hired by WVIK as News Editor and Morning Edition local news anchor, after she had worked only two Saturday evening shifts as an announcer. This, despite telling Don Wooten that she was sick of news and was NOT a morning person. |
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 Chuck Rubovits was born in Chicago and has lived in Rock Island (except for a stint in the Army) since 1947. He attended the University of Illinois and the University of Iowa, and owned and operated two small businesses in the Quad Cities from 1967 to 1998. Active in the Tri-City Jewish Center, Chuck served as Synagogue Lay Leader from 2001 through 2004.
Chuck joined the staff of WVIK in the summer of 1985 as a part-time evening announcer. |
Chuck says Don Wooten hired him because "With a name like Rubovits, I should have little trouble pronouncing all the Russian names of composers and performers."In 1987, Chuck was given Sunday evening hosting duties, and has held that slot ever since. In January 2007, Chuck became an Underwriting Associate as well.
Chuck and his lovely bride Michelle have been married for nearly 50 years, and have two great children and four wonderful grandchildren. |
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Colleen started working at WVIK in 1993, while she completed undergraduate work at Augustana College for a major in psychology and a minor in computer science. Her job then was to coordinate the APRIS volunteers. When she graduated in 1995, General Manager Don Wooten offered her a position as the station’s Business Manager.
Among her many duties at the station are coordinating the Spring and Fall Fund Drives, includes scheduling volunteers and staff as well as tracking the pledge totals during the drive. She maintains the station’s donor accounts, processes every dime that comes in or goes out, handles the office supply inventory, and provides technical support on the computer systems that track it all. Lately she has been updating the station’s underwriting software to provide better service to WVIK's underwriting clients. |
Outside of work, Colleen has been researching her family’s genealogy. She grew up in Maquoketa, and discovered that her family first settled on their farm near Maquoketa before Iowa attained statehood. Her family has lived there for five generations. Colleen also enjoys gardening, camping, and home improvement. She resides in Rock Island with her husband Bryan and their daughters Rowan and Laurel. (Based on a Communique profile by Kristen D. Schipper) |
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Frank Sundram General Manager |
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| Frank returned to the Quad Cities from Florida’s Gulf Coast to become WVIK’s third general manager.
He began his career in broadcasting as a producer for a commercial station in Buffalo, New York. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the Quad Cities and served as a news producer for WQAD-TV in 1982-83. He then worked for television stations in Buffalo, New York and Fayetteville, North Carolina before landing his first job in public radio when he became a morning news host and producer at a station in Fayetteville from 1987-89. After completing his M.F.A. degree, Sundram moved to Gallup, New Mexico to serve as general manager of the University of New Mexico’s Gallup campus station, and returned to Fayetteville’s WFSS-FM as general manager in 1993. |
“The Quad Cities has long held a special place in my heart,” said Sundram, who makes frequent trips to the area to visit close friends outside Geneseo. “Having enjoyed a long and rich connection to this area, I look forward to joining Augustana College and WVIK and getting to know the Quad Cities’ arts and business community.” |
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Kai Swanson is executive assistant to Augustana College President Steve Bahls, in addition to being host of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s “Concert Conversations.” An alumnus of Augustana College and WVIK, Kai worked in both news and music programming between 1986 and 1995, and has maintained close ties with Augustana Public Radio ever since.
Kai resides in Rock Island and has two children, Olivia and Evan. |
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 A native of Detroit, Michigan, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disk jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.
While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University) he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. |
Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Along with his daily work as News Director of WVIK, he also hosts the weekly public affairs program Midwest Week in Review – covering the news behind the news by interviewing regional reporters about the stories they cover. Herb resides in Rock Island with his wife Diane, and their dog Sally. (Based on a Communique profile by Kristen D. Schipper) |
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 Since 1995, historian and folklorist Dr. Roald Tweet has been spinning his stories of the Mississippi Valley to a devoted audience on WVIK. Dr. Tweet has published three books as well as numerous literary articles and recored segments of "Rock Island Lines." His inspiration is a "kidney-shaped limestone island plunked down in the middle of the Mississippi River," a logical site for a storyteller like Dr. Tweet.
It is from Rock Island’s rich heritage that Dr. Tweet spins his histories, biographies and |
"stretchers." Among his favorite topics are railroads and riverboats, which he combines on a CD in celebration of the Grand Excursion 2004. "Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet" has received awards from the Illinois Historical Society as well as the Towner Award from the Illinois Humanities Council. Dr. Tweet is professor emeritus, retired from the Augustana College English department, where he was professor and Conrad Bergendoff Chair in the Humanities. A writer and radio personality, Dr. Tweet is also an accomplished woodcarver and whittler. |
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Don Wooten Host of Matinee, Saturday Morning Live!, & Jazz After Hours |
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Don's first fulltime job was that of announcer for KWPC in Muscatine, Iowa in 1950. In 1952, he began a 19-and-1/2 year association with WHBF-TV in Rock Island, serving the station as announcer, producer, weatherman, and director of public affairs. He won nine state-wide awards for his "Spectrum" series, initiated the popular "At Issue" program, and was the only non-print journalist to be named to the Illinois State Medical Society's "Journalism Hall of Fame." During those years, Don also helped edit the Catholic Messenger for the Davenport Catholic diocese, wrote music reviews for several newspapers and Commonweal magazine, taught six periods a day at Alleman High School in Rock Island (including English, Humanities, and chorus), and |
founded the Genesius Guild – free, classic theatre and opera performed during the summer in Rock Island's Lincoln Park – for which he remains the driving force. In 1972, Don entered the political arena and won two terms in the Illinois State Senate; he served from 1977-1980 as chariman of the senate executive committee and was honored with 17 "best legislator" awards. Then Don returned to his roots, combining his experience in broadcasting with his love for the arts. In August 1980 he began WVIK. Retiring after 22 years of service as General Manager in January of 2003, Don continues to serve WVIK as host of Matinee, Saturday Morning Live, and Jazz After Hours. In addition, he writes weekly columns for the Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus, is a frequent guest lecturer in area schools, and serves as a board member for a number of local, state and regional arts organizations. Wooten has been married for 50 years to Bernadette; the couple has five children: David, Christine, Steve, Teri, and Caecilia; and three grandchildren, Luke, Carl, and Haili Straka. |
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Michelle likes travelling, canoeing, hiking, and music. She enjoys walking the Hennepin Canal bike path looking for wildlife and evidence of past criminal activity. Michelle misses her constant companion (an adorable mutt named Indy), with whom she enjoyed long walks. 
There isn't much Colleen can't do. If you call WVIK with a question about most anything, your trail will likely lead to Colleen.
He has also held general manager positions with Long Island Public Radio in New York, and most recently at WKGC-FM, the public radio station based at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Florida.
Memphis-born Joseph Donald Wooten was sent, at the age of 17, to the seminary at St. Ambrose College by Bishop Adrian of the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee. After two years he left the seminary, but stayed on at St. Ambrose to pursue a degree in biology.