Indiana Broadcast History Archive

Elmer Sulzer led the Department of Radio and Television at Indiana University in the 1950s and 1960s. He believed in hands-on production experience for the students and designed the campus Radio and TV Center, which opened in 1963 with 8 studios. Prior to coming to Bloomington, Sulzer headed radio activities at the University of Kentucky. He had a life-long love of trains and their history and wrote five books and authored more than 50 articles on rail topics. 

Sulzer was born August 29, 1903, in Madison, Indiana. He obtained a degree from Depauw University in 1925 and from the University of Illinois in 1949.   

In 1929, Sulzer began broadcasting radio programs for the University of Kentucky. In the same year, he founded the UK Publicity Bureau. At the university, he was also director of the marching band, director of public relations and director of broadcasting.  

Sulzer implemented listening centers for reception and established an educational station. In 1933, he installed radio sets in homes and stores throughout Lexington, Kentucky.  

In 1942, he was awarded the George Foster Peabody Award for a program that he did on venereal disease.   

Sulzer left the University of Kentucky in 1952 to work at the broadcast department at Indiana University, where he served as chair of the Department of Radio and Television. The Radio-TV Center was Sulzer’s crowning achievement.    

Sulzer was named Sagamore of the Wabash, an honorary award in Indiana, after his retirement at IU. 

Outside of Sulzer’s broadcast career, he also had a life-long interest in trains, writing five books and more than 50 articles about the topic, including “Ghost Railroads of Tennessee,” a 328-page long book of Tennessee railroads. He was also an honorary member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainman, a labor organization formed for railroad employees.   

Sulzer died February 15, 1976, in Sarasota, Florida. He was 72 years old. 

March 2025

By Lily Saylor