EXECUTIVE STAFF
Colby Maclin
Program Director
Colby is a senior Public Relations-Mass Media and Strategic Communication major, Sociology minor, from Ripley, Tennessee. She serves as the student manager and oversees the station's daily operations. You can hear Colby on the sideline of both Westview and UT Martin football games. Outside of WUTM, Colby serves as the Press Secretary for the Student Government Association, Vice President for the Public Relations Student Society of America, and a Rotaract member. After graduation, she plans on pursuing a graduate degree in mass communications
Jared Davidson
Sports Director.
Jared is a senior broadcast major from Southaven, Mississippi. He is the lead Play-by-Play announcer for WUTM, broadcasting football and basketball for Westview High School and UT Martin. Jared is also the host of the award winning sports talk show The Bench. He also does color commentary for ESPN+ broadcasts for UTM soccer and baseball. Jared hopes to get a sports media job when he graduates
Carson Alexander
Digital Media Director
Carson is a sophomore major in Mass Media and Communication with a focus in media design with a minor in marketing from Martin, Tennessee. Carson does all the branding for social media, merch, and design for WUTM. Carson is the host of Let's Talk Greek, where she interviews alums, sororities, and fraternities about the positive impact of Greek life and what it can offer an individual. Her other campus involvements include being an active Alpha Omicron Pi sorority member, where she holds Bible studies and activities as Chaplin and chair of Ritual Education. Carson works for UTM athletics for all sporting events during the school year. During the 2023 school year semester, Carson was a PEP Leader where she mentored incoming freshman students on college life. She is an active college member of First Baptist Church in Martin. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in branding in the entertainment or sports industry.
Savannah Carr
Business and Traffic Director
Savannah Carr is a broadcast major. She is in her second semester of college and thinking about minoring in Meteorology. Savannah is the business and traffic directer here on WUTM. Shhe works on logs and also has a show on the radio. Her show is called Take Flight, Savannah loves hearing about other cultures and this is a gret opportunity to do that. You can hear Savannah on her show on Tuesdays at 10:30 & 2.
Lauryn Davis
News Director
Lauryn Davis is a Junior Broadcast and Multimedia Production MMSC Major from Memphis Tennessee. Lauryn is the WUTM News Director and creates and edits the daily news for the station. She also hosts the public affairs talk show, For the Record where she talks and interviews special guests from UT Martin and surrounding community to discuss things that students need to know. On campus Lauryn is the President of her sorority chapter, member of the Student-Goverment Assosication, Women in communication, the National Association of Black journalists, and Southern Greek Leadership Association Student Advisory Board Member. After graduating, she hopes to work in a local newsroom as a reporter or anchor.
Hayden Meeks
Assistant Sports Director\
Carlin Cochran
Support & Development Director
Carlin is a junior Broadcast-Mass Media and Strategic Communication major with a Theater minor, from Centerville, Tennessee. Outside of WUTM, Carlin is involved in the Fine Arts Department at UT Martin. After graduation, she hopes to be a theater and journalism teacher.
Alex Martin
Production Director
Alex is a junior Broadcasting-Communications major from Trenton, Tennessee. He is the host of the weekly radio show Something Wicked.
Carter Vandrasik
Chief Forecaster
Carter is a senior Meteorology major from Kingston Springs, Tennessee. He produces daily weather briefings and works hard to keep the residents of the local cities safe from potentially dangerous weather. He is also the host of the bi-weekly show SGA Roundup. Outside of WUTM, Carter serves as a Resident Assistant and as the Student Alumni Council president here at UT Martin. He hopes to be on television one day after graduation.
ADVISORS & FACULTY
Dr. Richard Robinson
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Robinson teaches courses in radio broadcasting and public speaking. He worked in the radio industry for 19 years, including roles as an on-air talent, news reporter, and sales and programming. He also worked in government public relations in the state of Arkansas for 14 years. Robinson holds a bachelor of science journalism from the University of Central Arkansas, a master of arts in journalism (radio-television-film) from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and a Ph.D. in mass communication and media arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.​
Mr. Rodney Freed
Instructor
Mr. Freed has worked in the television industry for over 10 years and was most recently the Director of Production at WBBH-TV (NBC) and WZVN-TV (ABC) in Ft. Myers, Fl. He also actively works with the local PBS affiliate WLJT-TV as a freelance director for the student chapter of the Broadcasting Guild. He holds memberships in the National Press Photographers Association and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
Brian Thomas
Senior Broadcast Engineer
Skilled in many aspects of the broadcast industry, Mr. Thomas has been a broadcaster in both radio and television for over 20 years in the West Tennessee and Southwest Kentucky markets. He has served in Disc Jockey, Engineering, Digital Director and Operations Manager positions for over a decade in radio. In television, Qualls has produced newscasts, served as reporter, videographer, and engineer, produced television ads, and has been a technical director for local television programs. Brian holds certifications in both on-air and digital advertising from the Radio Advertising Bureau. Mr. Qualls is an amateur radio operator and Skywarn storm spotter. He continues his on-air work tracking storms for listeners during severe weather at WUTM and at other local radio stations in the Ken-Tenn area.
Dr. Robert Nanney
Department Chair
Dr. Nanney serves as department chair with 15 years’ experience in print journalism as a reporter, photographer, and managing editor. He has won several teaching awards including the Outstanding Teaching Award by the UT National Alumni Association and has been a faculty member with the TN Governor’s School for the Humanities for 20 years. He is co-founder of the department’s Media Design sequence. His research specialty is community journalism, and his creative activity involves photojournalism and desktop publishing. He is immediate past president of the UTM Faculty Senate. He holds numerous committee assignments, including the Tennessee Press Association Journalism Committee and the National Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Contemporary Leadership Committee.
