Back during the fall of 2018, West Liberty University Walker Polivka donated new curtains to WGLZ. But just recently during the spring of 2019, the new curtains were installed in the WGLZ studio. Walker said, “I noticed that the curtains in the studio were getting kind of old so I decided to donate new curtains to WGLZ.” Walker is currently a senior at West Liberty University. He is a broadcasting major with a journalism minor from Shadyside, Ohio.
He hosted two, twenty-four-hour marathon broadcasts in the fall of 2016 and in the fall of 2017 for College Radio Day, where he conducted interviews, did prize giveaways, and raised money for local charities. He ended up raising three thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars in the two years, and the money went to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Wheeling Soup Kitchen, the Bellaire American Legion, and the Bellaire F. O. E.
He was the General Manager of WGLZ from January 2017 through November 2018. During that time frame, he hosted his own radio show where he conducted interviews with over 100 people at the local, state, and national levels, including Bob Barker, Ed Asner, Mario Andretti, and Tommy James. He also created the Unsigned Artists playlist to give talented musicians from around the world the chance to get their music heard.
He won the Abe Voron Award for broadcasting in the fall of 2017 from the Broadcast Education Association for what he has accomplished in radio at WGLZ. The award came with a three thousand dollar scholarship for his tuition and it was only awarded to three people across the United States.
He served on the College Radio Task Force in the fall of 2018. In his position, he helped to get stations signed up for College Radio Day and he also generated content, including Liners from PGA Tour golfer Len Mattiace, NASCAR Driver Bobby Allison, and a liner and an interview with musician Tommy James.
Since May 2018, he has been working part-time at WCDK in Weirton, where he has done a variety of different things, including: covering local political meetings, written news stories for the morning news, board op for football games, and working remote events. He is also a producer on the programs Dimitri: Live and Dangerously Local, The Athenian Hour, and Neapolitan Serenade.
He will be graduating in December of 2018, and he plans on getting a full-time position in radio. He’s not sure where his career will take him, but his end goal is to own his own radio station someday.