The news director for the university’s public radio affiliate is the only woman to be individually nominated for an award by the Kentucky Broadcasters Association.
Leann Akers, the news director for Morehead State University’s WMKY, station located in Breckenridge, found her love for broadcasting while a student at Morehead State University. Now, after broadcasting professionally for almost two years, she is in the running to win KBA’s Rookie of the Year.
As a single mother, Akers works full time at the radio station, working on her education doctorate, and teaches up to a dozen convergent media students during the academic year. Since she started at WMKY, the station has won several awards from the KBA, concentrating on local news.
“Community news is so different than the national stuff that you see,” said Akers. “I never have to talk about politics and I never have to talk about hot-button issues. I can focus more on what matters at a grass root’s level.”
After working with the Morehead News Group rising to the editor position at the Grayson Journal, she realized why she loves broadcast news over print. She believes broadcast news is more connected and personal than print news.
With her print journalism background, she said she fears people often don’t see what is right in front of them.
“If journalists are so focused on the big picture,” she says, “you miss the things that are closest to you.”
While working in print journalism, Akers was one of the youngest editors in the state. But after that, there was nowhere for her to go. She said it is really hard for women to move up and even harder to break into the administrative side of things.
“Journalism in general is a male dominated field,” she said, “we’re all just trying to break the glass ceiling at this point.”
Even in college, she faced discouragements in the field.
“They wouldn’t train me to do sports coverage because the news director at the time said ‘girls don’t do sports,’ but my first job out of college was sports,” she said.
However, she doesn’t let discouragement slow her down.
“Even when I was very young,” said Akers, “I felt like if somebody said ‘you can’t do something’ then I would say ‘watch me.’”
Between her job, children, students and education, Akers has a lot on her plate, but as she put it, “I don’t anticipate slowing down ever.”
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