Indiana Broadcast History Archive

John Winninger came to Indiana University for college and never left. He worked in radio and television at the university for 43 years before his retirement.   

Winninger got his first job at IU in 1968. Throughout his career, he worked for WTIU as well as IU's Radio & TV Services. He also has years of experience as a remote truck producer and a full orchestra music producer. In July of 2011, John retired from his role as full time Senior Producer/Director at WTIU. 

Here is the full oral history interview with John Winninger, conducted by Logan Krzykowski for the IBHA in 2025.

Early Life

Winninger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 5^th, 1944. His parents were both professional musicians, so they expected him to become a musician as well.

Once he got to high school, he found his love for journalism when he joined the school newspaper as a photographer, took advanced writing classes and announced the morning news for the school. With a music career in mind, he applied to four colleges; Oberlin College, Curtis College of Music, the University of Michigan and Indiana University. He ultimately decided on IU.

In his freshman year at IU, he was the producer and host on the WFQR carrier current FM radio two nights a week with a classical music podcast at Forest Quadrangle.

College

Winninger earned a faculty scholarship from the music department at IU and in 1962, he enrolled at the university. While he was a student at IU, he said his favorite part about being there was the freedom that he had. 

"The freedom we had as students, we didn’t have to answer to our parents. You have to grow up and manage a budget, have a checkbook, have to pay rent.”  

John Winninger

He studied for six years at IU and graduated in 1968 with a degree in Radio & TV, and Music. While at IU, there were several professors at the university that had a great impact on him and taught him many valuable lessons that he would carry with him for the rest of his career.  

Covering the MLK News Flash

On April 4^th, 1968, Winninger was on duty in the WFIU for Professor Richard Yoakam’s newsroom class when he got the message that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. He had to deliver the news to Dick Bishop at WFIU, who was doing his jazz show. Winninger showed Bishop the news, and shortly after, Bishop reported to the listeners that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in Memphis. It was a tragic moment that hit him hard, as he was the one to deliver that news. It was difficult for Winninger  to move past a hard moment, but he would deal with more tragedies later in his career, and came up with ways to not carry the heavy weight of the tragedy home with him. 

Career

After his graduation in 1968, Winninger was hired full time in Radio and TV Services (RTVS), where he was an entry-level producer/director. When WTIU television expanded its local programming, Winninger was promoted to one of the Senior Producer/Director positions. With this role, he was the producer/director for in-studio instructional television, talk shows, and numerous documentaries. He would hold this position all the way until his retirement in 2011. 

 In 1976, Winninger was hired as an adjunct instructor for the Department of Telecommunications. Here, he taught courses in TV Mini-Cam Field Production, News Production, and an Advanced Studio Production class. Winninger taught at IU until 2007. 

Winninger and colleagues work in Simon Hall directing an Opera live stream.

Documentaries

For John Winninger, his favorite decade to be working in the production field was the 1990s. As IU moved away from instructional television, Winninger was moved into documentary production. He was proud of the documentaries that he produced, and had a great time doing it.

One of the series that he produced was called “The Spirit of Monroe County.” The three documentaries in this series focused on Monroe County, which is where Bloomington and IU are located. Winninger was the producer, editor and director, and he was even on air for some parts of the documentary.  

Remote Truck Production

In 1983, Winninger began his career as a remote truck producer, traveling to events for live or taped coverage.  His job was editing the tape that came in, typing up cues for the engineers and editing all the tape that they would get for everything to line up perfectly to be aired on the broadcast. Winninger was able to work in the remote trucks at a lot of major sports events, as well as orchestras and music recitals. 

Winninger directs Bands of America.

Retirement and Personal Life

Winninger directs orchestra.

Following his retirement in 2011, Winninger has stayed busy. Since his parents had wanted him to be a musician, he has long played the violoncello. He has performed with his violoncello with the Bloomington Symphony, the Bloomington Pops, and Friday Musicale, and gives recitals of chamber music with his pianist.

Winninger sails his Y-flyer.

Winninger is married and lives in Bloomington, where he has three children and three grandchildren. John enjoys going sailing with his friends on his Y-Flyer. He also enjoys playing the occasional round of golf. 

By Logan Krzykowski, edited by Lily Saylor

March 2026