Louisville Public Media has hired Mike Edgerly as 89.3 WFPL News Louisville’s managing editor. In this role, Edgerly will help lead WFPL's daily news operations and manage its six beat reporters.
“WFPL and Louisville Public Media are in the vanguard among public media stations reporting vital, distinctive local stories and I am honored to become a part of this team,” Edgerly said. “My wife, Lynnette, and I are truly excited at the opportunity to return to Kentucky.”
Edgerly brings more than 40 years of experience in public and commercial radio and television newsrooms to WFPL.
He started his career at small radio stations in western Kentucky and joined WHAS Radio in Louisville in 1979 to cover state government, politics and daily news. While there, he produced an in-depth look at Louisville’s growing homeless population that won a George Foster Peabody award in 1985 and was lauded as "the highest form of public service" by a radio station.
In 1991, Edgerly joined Minnesota Public Radio News in St. Paul where he produced news magazines, edited thousands of news stories and as news director, helped lead one of the largest public radio newsrooms in the nation. He was also the lead broadcast editor on the investigative project, “Betrayed by Silence,” which exposed the cover-up of child sexual abuse of children by priests in the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. The investigation was recognized with Peabody and Dupont-Columbia Awards.
A Kentucky native, Edgerly was born in Owensboro and attended Murray State University. In 2016 he was inducted into the University of Kentucky's Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.
“Mike is an experienced editor and newsroom leader and we’re thrilled that he’s coming home to Kentucky,” said Erica Peterson, WFPL Director of News and Programming. “He’ll be an essential part of the team that will continue to offer our audiences more local news from the city, state and region.”
Edgerly’s first day will be Feb 3.