WILL Web Wizard, Producer Looks Back At Changes In Public Media

Jack Brighton has been a key to WILL’s behind-the-scenes operations for twenty-eight years, first as "Focus" producer and later moving into the digital sphere. He built our website, kept it working, improving and more. But his last full day in the office was last week.

“It feels really strange,” said Brighton. “WILL has been such a rewarding career. Being part of this has been such a key part of my life, and all the things that WILL does for the community I care deeply about, so it’s really tough to leave.”

Brighton joined Here & Now host Jason Croft to look back at the changes over those years.

“Of course when I started in radio we were editing radio with razor blades and analog tape and these big machines that spun around,” said Brighton, “and going on air and doing interviews, and reporting and doing all the things that we did as part of radio – this craft of radio – was incredibly rewarding.”

“And of course as digital technology came along with the internet and this thing called the web, it became possible to extend radio onto different platforms and reach people universally across the globe.”

He says that everything he used to do with radio is now in an on-demand mobile space, and that will only increase, but the craft of radio remains the same.

“We’re telling stories. We are reporting, we’re doing journalism. We’re providing cultural programing - music and the arts – in the same way we always have. The technology does not change the meaning of what it is that we provide,” said Brighton. "I think we are all part of this project of really understanding our world and helping communities solve their problems by exploring what's going on - the news, the culture, the events and the issues are important."