Bill Siemering

William H. Siemering (born October 26, 1934) is a radio innovator and advocate. He was a member of the founding board of NPR and the author of its original "mission statement," the National Public Radio Purposes. As NPR's first director of programming Siemering helped shaped its flagship program All Things Considered into an influential and enduring fixture of American media. After a decades-long career in public radio, Siemering embarked on a second career of nurturing independent radio in the developing world. Early life William Siemering grew up in rural Wisconsin. As a student in a two-room school outside of Madison, he listened to the "Wisconsin School of the Air." These twice-a-day radio programs produced by WHA brought educators from the University of Wisconsin into isolated country schools throughout the state. Siemering would later observe: "As early as first grade, radio both educated me and spurred my imagination." Siemering's appreciation of radio increased during his high school years as he witnessed first-hand the importance of WHA's daily farm program while working summers baling hay and harvesting grain. He changed from listener to active participant when he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and worked his way through school at WHA as a board operator, announcer, and newscaster. Siemering would later remark, "WHA had become the statewide Wisconsin Educational Radio Network, and I saw how it linked the state through its programming."