As a youngster, he started a radio station,
but Terry Hapney knew he wanted to teach

By Hank Bond
KyForward contributor

Terry Hapney is living his dream while staying connected to his deep Kentucky roots.

Hapney grew up in Worthington, in an Ohio River valley Tri-State area that includes Greenup County. As a youngster back in 1982, he and his younger sister Melanie, created “WLW” radio.

No, not that WLW but the “We Love Worthington” WLW, serving Worthington, Raceland and Wurtland from his bedroom-turned-radio-station. They provided greater Worthington with music, news, commercials for area businesses, sports scores and disc jockeying.

It started with a microphone given him by his grandmother, Thelma Hapney of Flatwoods, for use with a stereo system his parents, Terry and Judith, had given him – and his sister suggesting, “Let’s play radio.” They were all set with turntables, a mixing board, cassette decks, a clock, microphones and a speakerphone. For the next five years, they produced radio broadcasts – and Terry was on a career path.

In 1987 he connected with the late Bill Geyer, news director and disc jockey at WLGC in Greenup, at a Raceland High School basketball game. Geyer told him to come see him when he got his driver’s license. He persisted and, at 16, landed a job on weekends. His 24-year career in radio brought him to Lexington to WCTR/AM 1420 where he also did public relations and promotions. He would work in radio and in television at a number of stations in Lexington and the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton markets.

Meantime, he had picked up his undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky, his master’s at Marshall University – and will soon complete his Ph.D. from the University of Dayton.

While his early work in radio inspired his interests in communication, he has known “from the time I was a senior in high school that I wanted to become a college professor.”

His solid education at Raceland High School and a long list of teacher-mentors there – who taught him to write, to type, to have the discipline to strive for excellence – have served him well.

Since 2008, he has had his dream job as an assistant professor of public relations in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall. He hopes to attain tenure there, continue to strengthen the public relations program and perhaps become an administrator.

Still, he’ll also be hosting the Time Warner cable broadcast of the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade, with friend J.B. Miller, something he’s done for 14 years.

“I love my work … If I won millions in the lottery this evening, I would be at Marshall the next day teaching, serving on university and community committees and conducting research.

“I remember as an undergrad at UK we had an 82-year-old woman who was a full-time student. She never stopped learning. I admired her so much. . . Most of us were 20- to 22-year olds. I rode a bicycle from my apartment to class. I remember going out to unlock my bike and seeing her hop into a little red sports car. . .That’s how I hope to be if the good Lord blesses me with that many years.”

“I feel fortunate that I am blessed with a position I love and am able to live in my hometown. I could go just about anywhere, but we choose to live where we live because of the quality of life it provides. There’s something to be said for being happy and ensuring our children grow up knowing and loving all four of their grandparents.”

Hapney and his wife, Claudette, an Ironton native, have three children: Brock, 11, Blake, 9, and Siyan (See-Ann), 7. Siyan was adopted from China in 2007, a “life-changing experience.”

“We need Siyan as much as she needed us,” he says. “We couldn’t imagine life without her.”

His deep roots in his homeplace were nurtured, he says, by so many people who made an impact on his life – from a piano teacher to a minister to a school band director to family and friends. These are the things that add up to a full life.

He hopes to do the same for his students.

“I enjoy sharing my expertise with future generations of public relations practitioners. It’s a great feelingto see them go out into the world and do great things.”

Hank Bond is co-publisher/editor of The Greenup Beacon, a member of the Beacon Media Group. The Greenup Beacon is a core concentrated publication distributed in Russell, Raceland and Flatwoods each week. Online presence and advertising at. VideWebcasting site www.beacononlinelive.com. The group is establishing a Tri-State news site at www.bmgnetwork.com. Reach him at hank@lifeinrf.com. This story first appeared in The Greenup Beacon.