Many people get their weekdays started by listening to the familiar voice of Nicole Walton, longtime local host for NPR's “Morning Edition” and news director at WNMU-FM, Public Radio 90. She has more than two decades of professional experience with the station, but the NMU alumna first began working there as a student employee while pursuing an English degree.
“Former choir director Floyd Slotterback made an announcement one day in class that the station had expressed a need for student employees,” Walton said. “I thought to myself, ‘I can do that,' which was a silly thing to say because once I got the job and started training, it became ‘There's no way I can do this' because there were too many things to think about: this lever goes up, this button needs to be pushed and this is what you have to say—all at the same time. But I eventually got it, and here I am so many years later.”
Walton worked at Public Radio 90 for most of her time as a student, before leaving the area after earning her bachelor's degree in 1993. Following a graduate school stint at Miami University of Ohio and moves to Indiana and Wisconsin, she decided the Upper Peninsula was where she needed to be.
Walton moved back to Marquette, where she had resided most of her life, and volunteered at the station on weekends while working at the prosecutor's office. When an opportunity for full-time employment at WNMU-FM surfaced, she made a career shift and has not looked back.
As a “one-person news department,” she compiles information, interviews subjects for sound bites and writes stories for her morning newscasts. Her goal is to deliver news relevant to as much of the station's coverage area as possible. WNMU-FM broadcasts throughout the Upper Peninsula and into northern Wisconsin.
Watching Northern grow and evolve over the time she's been on campus, and compared with her time as a student, has been interesting, Walton said. She also finds both the ever-changing news/media industry and the community focus of public radio appealing.
“Getting up at 4:30 in the morning is really the only thing I don't like about my job,” Walton said. “A friend of mine once said, ‘You never get used to it, you become immune to it.' Getting feedback is one of the better parts of the job, though, and I really don't take it for granted. If I were to meet someone who listens to my newscast and they say, ‘I listen to you on the radio all the time,' I know that it means that I'm a part of their lives. And that's not something I take lightly.”
When she's not focused on work, Walton enjoys reading and soaking in some of the recreational benefits of the Upper Peninsula, including hiking and swimming. She is also a regular attendee at the Michigan Paranormal Convention in Sault Ste Marie.
“Some people might be surprised to learn that I'm quite interested in the paranormal,” Walton said. “I have a lot of friends who are also interested in ghosts and such things, so we all head to the Soo every August to the Michigan Paracon. I may not believe in everything that's talked about there, but I'm always wanting to learn more about that topic.”
Walton shares her home with two cats, Toby and Phinny.
This story was written by December 2023 graduate Max McCullough.