“A New Look at the New Deal,” a radio documentary which featured numerous Western Kentucky University faculty members, has earned second place in national competition for the Best Public Radio Documentary of 2009. Produced and anchored by WKU Public Radio News Director Dan Modlin, the in-depth report examined the successes and shortcomings of the New Deal legislation of the 1930s.

Faculty experts who appeared in the report include Dr. Tony Harkins, Dr. Patty Minter and Dr. Eric Reed of the WKU History Department, and Dr. Brian Strow and Professor Dick Cantrell of the WKU Economics Department.  Dr. Tony Edmonds, a historian from Ball State University, also contributed analysis to the report. 

“A New Look at the New Deal” and WKYU-FM were honored June 26 at the annual conference of the Public Radio News Directors Inc.  The awards category is open to all public radio stations in the nation which have news staffs of three or four people.

Modlin said this is a good example of the partnership between WKU Public Radio and the faculty and staff experts at the institution. 

“We have developed a strong working relationship,” Modlin said. “WKU has many outstanding scholars who are also fine communicators. They play an important role in many of the in-depth stories we produce each year.”

“A New Look at the New Deal” aired on July 27, 2009. The documentary can be heard at the WKU Public Radio website, www.wkyufm.org. WKYU-FM can be heard on air at 88.9 in Bowling Green/Glasgow; 89.7 in Somerset/Columbia; 90.9 in Elizabethtown/Bardstown and 89.5 in Henderson/Owensboro.