VERMONT Magazine Fall 2022 | Page 21

Sherman : Welcome , Laura ! It ’ s wonderful to be speaking with you .
Walker : Thank you . It ’ s great to be here .
Sherman : Let ’ s start at the beginning . Where were you born ?
Walker : I was born in New York City . I was brought up for the most part in Tarrytown , New York .
Sherman : What did your parents do for work ?
Walker : My dad was a music major at Columbia . He was the first in his family to go to college . He had been in the Army and had been in the Army band , and he was a jazz musician . He worked his way through Columbia playing gigs and working for the President of Columbia , President Eisenhower , who was Dwight Eisenhower ’ s brother . My dad did not go into music . He went into advertising . He was a “ Mad Man .” My mom , who came from a long line of Lutheran ministers , was a social worker . She worked until she was 80 years old . We always teased her that her work was taking care of the elderly — and many of her clients were younger than she was !
Sherman : You recently were the keynote speaker at the “ Women in Leadership ” Luncheon , here in Southern Vermont , where you shared some of your mother ’ s advice from your early years . Can you share some of the lessons that you learned from her ?
Walker : From my mom , I learned how to balance being a working mother and having a career . She was a real inspiration to me in so many ways . When she had gone back to work full time , I was about 16 . I picked her up at work in the car , she got in , and she didn ’ t say hello , she just said , “ Laura , I have some advice for you : If you ’ re going to work full time , you better really like the people you work for . You ’ re going to see them more than you ’ re going to see your family . And you better love what you do , because this is such an important part of your whole person .”
She said it as if she had found a purpose and a community of people who she really just enjoyed being with . As I was picking a career , I thought a lot about picking something that I was passionate about and could make a difference in .
Sherman : That is very good advice . What Did you learn from your dad ?
Walker : My dad was creative . He was a musician , and he listened to jazz all the time . I grew up listening to jazz with him every morning on WRVR . It was a fabulous jazz station that was broadcast from our church , Riverside Church . I grew to love jazz and classical music . When I was in my teens , the church that owned the station began conversations about whether to sell that radio station to get some money . In the end , my father was the only holdout on the church council . He did not want to sell the station . He thought that it was too important for the church . He also thought that jazz was too important to the cultural life of New York City , and that they could make more money later if they held onto it . They sold it for a million dollars , and it probably was worth about $ 80 million or $ 100 million at one point in the last ten years or so . That stuck with me very much , because when I went to WNYC , I was hired by a board that was buying the station to preserve it , to make it better , and to deepen the traditions and the connection to the city — and not turn it into what WRVR became , which was a commercial station . I learned from him the tenacity to fight for what is right , and I learned from both of my parents the importance of social justice .
Sherman : Some people know what they want to do very early on . With others , it takes time . As a child , did you know what you wanted to do ?
Walker : I don ’ t know that I always thought about it as a career , but I did want to be a journalist . I wrote for the newspaper in high school , and I was a photographer . I was really interested in telling stories . It was during college that I really realized that I wanted to be a journalist . I went to Wesleyan and got a degree in history , but
I also did something that ’ s very “ Bennington .” I took a semester off and did an internship . I went to WGBH in Boston , and that was where my love of public radio started . From that moment on , that ’ s what I wanted to do . It was a really transformative internship , because I went in , and they asked me , “ What do you want to do ? I said , “ I don ’ t know what I ’ m more interested in : music or journalism .” They said , “ Why don ’ t you split it into two , half and half .” The first story I got assigned at WGBH was a story about the Boston City Jail . The incarcerated individuals were protesting the conditions , which were terrible . My editor said , “ Okay . I want you to do a story on this . Come back and pitch me an idea .” I came back with reports from The Boston Globe about the protests , about the condition of the jail , and about the fact that it had been condemned . I came in , and I said , “ Here ’ s what I suggest : I think we should talk to the mayor and the police commissioner .” My editor stopped and said , “ What do you REALLY want to know ?” I said , “ Well , I really want to know what ’ s going on there .” She responded with , “ Who do you really want to talk to ?” I said , “ I want to talk to the people who are organizing this protest .” She said , “ Go do it .” I went to the jail , I met with the two people who were heading the protests , and I heard the story of why they were protesting . I also talked to some of the guards there . I think that ’ s some of the best advice I ’ ve ever gotten , because it made me think of what the REAL story was , who I wanted to hear from , what the unheard voices were , and how I could lift them up . That ’ s what radio is about : the power of a story to change minds .”
Sherman : What happened after you graduated from Wesleyan ?
Walker : When I left Wesleyan , I had one goal in mind : I wanted to get a job at National Public Radio ( NPR ). I loved public radio . The person who eventually hired me at NPR said , “ This is like graduate school . Everyone ’ s in their 20s and early 30s .” There were these amazing women journalists : Nina Totenberg , Linda Wertheimer , Susan Stamberg , and Cokie Roberts . Those women were such an inspiration
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