By Holly Desrosier
A few months ago, I wrote a story about the origins of Public Radio East (PRE). I had a fun time chatting with Ben Donnelly, PRE’s general manager, and George Olsen, host and producer, as well as getting to know much more than I’d anticipated about the inner workings of broadcasting and how one man’s idea blossomed into one of the most prestigious stations in the region.
So imagine my surprise when, not even a month later, word quietly started spreading that Olsen was retiring. Naturally, the first thing that crossed my mind was “hey, that would make an interesting story,” and I jumped at the chance to do one last interview with PRE’s longest running employee.
I contacted him the day before his departure and set up a meeting for the following morning. I wanted to get a feel for what a lifelong career in radio was like, and I wanted to dig deeper into the personality of someone whom I’d heard had a killer sense of dry humor that rarely, if ever, surfaced on the air.
As I walked into the PRE building the next day, which is located inside Barker Hall on the campus of Craven Community College, I was greeted by Kelly Batchelor, PRE program director. Coincidentally, she is a two-decade PRE veteran who had worked with Olsen longer than anyone. I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her departing colleague, such as inquiring about a side of Olsen people may not know from his on-air persona.
“He cracks a lot of jokes,” she affirmed. “I mean, you wouldn’t know it on the air because he doesn’t necessarily do it on the air, but he’s constantly cracking jokes in the daily course of conversation.”
She said he might occasionally reveal his sillier side on the air during fund drives because they all work such long hours that everyone gets a little loopy by the end. But other than that, listeners were accustomed to Olsen’s tranquil voice reading out news stories. Intrigued, I set off to find him and see if that quirky side would make an appearance.
When I sat down with him, I was acutely aware that it was his final day and promised it would be brief. However, I was determined to get the best glimpse possible into his backstory and find out what made the radio reporter tick.
What I got wasn’t some overly detailed account of a celebrity lifestyle, but rather the story of a unique individual whose calming voice became a mainstay in the daily life of PRE listeners throughout Eastern North Carolina and beyond.
Olsen is originally from Providence, Rhode Island, but thinks of North Carolina as his home. He moved to the area in 1969 when his father, who was in the Navy, came to the area to do civil service. Olsen graduated Havelock High School in 1977. By then, he was already interested in the field of broadcast radio and attended East Carolina for three-and-a-half years in hopes of joining their student radio station. It went defunct shortly after his arrival and he never got the opportunity. However, a different opportunity soon appeared in Greenville, and he had his first go in radio.
“There was a little gospel station there, and a friend of mine said ‘I know you’re interested in radio and they’re looking to hire people,’” George recalled. “I went through the grueling hiring process: I walked in, I said ‘I understand you’re looking to hire’ and they said “yep, when can you start?’ I don’t think it was any more involved than that—they were that hard up.”
(Ah, there’s the dry humor peeking out!) He worked at the station for about a year and a half before moving south to attend the University of South Carolina – Columbia. He was only there for a year, but he had a blast working with the student radio station. He earned his degree in Broadcast Journalism in 1982 and returned to Eastern North Carolina.
Olsen worked in commercial radio for about four years before starting full-time at PRE. Straight out of college, he briefly lived in Garner, Fuquay-Varina and Goldsboro. His job duties consisted of typesetting, going by the fire stations and picking up the fire reports and proofreading for the Garner News, as well as writing a few freelance articles for the entertainment rag for the Jacksonville Daily News. He then worked for a country music station in New Bern for just over a year before joining the PRE staff on a part-time basis in August 1985—just 14 months after the station first went on the air.
“I was working part-time 40 hours a week, which they wouldn’t get away with nowadays,” Olsen joked. “I actually worked more than the full timers did.”
He went full time after the first couple of years, and then decided he needed a change of scenery. He moved to Alabama and worked as a jazz and operations coordinator at the University of Alabama’s radio station for three years, but returned home to be with his girlfriend and take care of his father after his mother passed away.
Olsen returned to PRE in March 1989 as a news producer. During his time there, he had a lot of responsibilities. He hosted classical and jazz, as well as popular programs including “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “The Sound” and even a new age program for a short time. He was also a news and feature producer.
“I probably had my fingers in all aspects of programming here,” he said. “Last couple of years, I’ve been more ‘whatever happens, wherever I’m needed.’ If something blows up, I don’t know if I can fix it, but I can at least find someone who can.”
Olsen’s long tenure meant he was the most familiar with the station’s equipment and inner workings than anyone else. He watched as the radio industry shifted from vinyl records to CDs and ultimately to computer-based. Many of the responsibilities he undertook were done behind the scenes, and a lot of PRE’s growth and continued success can be attributed to his efforts.
“He’s had a hand in growing the whole operation,” said Batchelor. “We started with one station, and now we have four distinct stations. He’s really helped with that. Putting all the studios together, the computers and the million technical things that go on here; he’s got a hand in that.”
Olsen began to seriously consider the idea of retirement at the start of 2019. He recalled a nice, warm New Year’s Day, during which he described a day full of reading the paper, going running, soaking up the sun, running errands and just doing what he pleased. At the end of the day, he realized it had been a great one and he wouldn’t mind it becoming the norm.
“I mean, I’ve been doing this for 38 years—I want to go out while people still think I’ve got something to offer as compared to ‘thank god he’s gone!’” he said with a chuckle. “And also, while there’s still some pleasure in it. I didn’t want to get to that point where I had no love for it at all. I wanted to go while I still enjoyed what I was doing.”
Olsen, now 60, has no children but has enjoyed the company of many furry friends over the years and currently has two cats and one dog. He currently owns a house in Kinston with his girlfriend of 15 years.
“Someone once told me when we were taking out the mortgage on the house that it’s harder to get out of a mortgage than it is a marriage, so in my eyes we’re more than married,” he said with a laugh.
After making his decision to retire, Olsen did give a generous four-month notice so the station would have ample time to prepare for his departure, but he will clearly be missed. He has had more of an impact on his coworkers and listeners than he realizes, and his absence will certainly be felt in the station, both from a practical and comical standpoint.
“I will definitely miss his technical expertise because when we have a problem, it’s usually George that we call,” said Batchelor. “Station’s off the air, I’ve tried everything I know to try—he’ll give you some suggestions, even if it’s the middle of the night. He’s there for you. Honestly, the whole station’s gonna miss him. He’s been very dedicated at keeping us on air, and that’s the hardest part of all of this because we have transmitters all over the place. He’s willing to drive, talk to vendors and talk out the technical issues, try this and try that until it works. He sticks with it until it works, so that’s what we’re gonna miss most.”
Olsen needed to go record in the studio one last time, so I followed him over to take some photos. It was kind of surreal watching someone who was about to walk out of the workplace for the last time—the same workplace he helped for 30 years to establish its roots and develop a reputation as a trustworthy news source across the region.
I watched as Olsen made a few adjustments to the audio console, got his script ready, slipped on his headphones and switched on the microphone. The red “On Air” sign illuminated briefly outside the studio door one last time.
And just like that, a 30-year career comes to a close. Listeners will continue to hear pre-recordings of Olsen’s voice over the airwaves for a time, but as for Olsen himself, it’s radio silence.
This article was originally published in the New Bern Sun Journal on April 8, 2020.