Jim Rademaker

Jim Rademaker has served as General Manager of WCMU Public Media since September, 2020.

Jim came to WCMU in December of 2015 after spending 14 years in Public Media at WGVU in Grand Rapids. He became Interim General Manager in May, 2019, after serving as Assistant General Manager for Delopment and Community Engagement, where he oversaw all fundraising efforts, and was charged with expanding the reach of WCMU beyond the Television and Radio and into the community.

He quite accidentally discovered his dream job of working in Public Media back in 2001 when he was asked to volunteer as an auctioneer for WGVU in 2001, and can’t believe how lucky he is to do what he loves every day.

Jim likes to say he was a PBSKid long before there was a name for it. He remembers fondly, watching Mister Rogers as a child, and will never forget when a ground breaking children’s program debuted in 1969, Sesame Street. He’ll still enjoy a cookie (or an orange) with Cookie Monster and count along with The Count to this day. In college a professor turned him on to NPR and he’s enjoyed many a driveway moment over the past 30 years.