A new conference in Southern Illinois is working to steer more students into teaching careers. The “Seeing Educators Emerge” conference at John A. Logan College brought together high school and college students to highlight education as a career path. Organizers say the goal is to build a stronger local pipeline of teachers, especially in rural areas where shortages continue. The event also focused on increasing male representation in classrooms, where men make up less than a quarter of educators. Organizers hope to make the conference an annual effort to address ongoing staffing challenges in schools.
Ed Histed
Ed launched his radio career in 1975 and has spent more than five decades in the broadcasting industry. During that time, he has served in a wide range of roles including Air Personality, News Director, Sales Manager, Operations Manager, and General Manager at numerous radio stations in various markets across the country. Beyond on-air and management responsibilities, Ed has also worked extensively on the technical side of broadcasting. His background includes RF engineering and information technology, with particular experience configuring digital automation systems and remote voice-tracking platforms used by stations across the country. Ed was also among a select group of industry professionals invited by Google to its California headquarters following the company’s acquisition of Scott Studios. He was one of just 12 broadcasters nationwide chosen to participate in discussions and provide input during the design and rollout of Google’s digital broadcast automation platform. Although the majority of Ed’s career—spanning roughly four decades—was rooted in music radio, he transitioned into news and information programming in 2012. He says the move into spoken-word broadcasting was a natural evolution after decades of experience in multiple areas of the industry.