General Manager - Jon Easter

Mr. Easter

EDUCATION

•1993 Ben Davis High School graduate
•1997 Indiana University graduate

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Franklin Central High School

After serving as a substitute teacher at Ben Davis in April and May of 1997, Easter accepted his first teaching position at Franklin Central in June of that year.  He spent two very productive years at Franklin Central as WRFT Station Manager where he increased the station’s coverage of sports and changed the sound of the station.  Easter’s Franklin Central students won 18 IASB awards in two years at the school.

Ben Davis High School

After two years at FC, Easter decided to take the open WBDG Station Manager position when it was offered to him in August of 1999.  When Easter arrived at BD, WBDG had just been moved to a temporary home.  The first year and a half of Easter’s tenure at Ben Davis were characterized by construction and station moves.  WBDG did not settle into its new home until December of 2000.

Since that time, Easter has worked with the district and the WBDG engineering staff of Brad Perdue and Kevin Van Wyk to update and upgrade nearly every piece of equipment in the station.  Today, WBDG is one of the most state-of-the-art high school stations in the country with a top-notch computer system that matches the systems of some of the most advanced stations in the United States.

WBDG has also gained much acclaim and many awards since 1999.  WBDG students have won 27 Indiana Association of School Broadcasters Awards.  The station finished second in the state in 2004 and Ben Davis was named the “Radio School of the Year” in 2005 by the IASB. WBDG was recognized with a Special Resolution from the City County Council in September of 2005.  In 2006, Alex Kirby and Keith Czerwinski won the Columbia College of Chicago High School Radio Awards Grand Prize for sports broadcasting.  WBDG has also been recognized for its work with the Wayne Westside Values program.  In 2002, the Ben Davis Lions Club awarded the President’s Appreciation Award to the station, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation recognized the station for its help with that charitable group.

The program was adopted by the Area 31 Career Center in 2003 and students from the nine schools that feed the center began also becoming part of the WBDG staff.  General Manager : Email