A quiet, respect-your-intelligence style

John Wallenstein is one of those people you meet who was private. But as you became acquainted with John, you discovered he was friendly, highly professional and took joy in exceeding the expectations of his job.

His last position was as director of community affairs and marketing at WUIS Public Radio. At its core, he was our salesperson. A very good one who practiced the quiet, subtle approach. He would identify businesses that were a good match with the audience, knowing it would get him more than half way to a sale.

The first time I went on a call with John, he laid out the case for WUIS then let the client consider what he had heard. The client filled the vacuum when he responded with a couple of questions and said he’d see how the numbers “might” work out to place some announcements. John thanked him for his time, asked when he might follow up, shook hands and we left.

When we got to the car John said he felt good about this potential partnership but that we’d have to see. I asked if we needed to provide more information, ramp up the “sell.” He believed getting the appointment meant the interest was there and he would provide the client with any other information requested in a couple days. The next day he came to my office with a slight smile on his face and said the client was on board for one of the largest buys we had secured to that date. My takeaway, trust John’s instincts and his unassuming nature.

This approach worked for John on a wonderfully successful number of occasions. What I came to learn is that most of the town knew John Wallenstein. John did the opposite of brag. Over the years, I learned little tidbits: He loved baseball. He was born April 3, 1942, probably to the sound the White Sox game on the radio in the delivery room. He grew up in Chicago listening to the games and proceeded to make a career in baseball and sports marketing. He came to Springfield in 1978 with the Springfield Redbirds minor league baseball team and served on the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame board of directors.

He loved his family. John and his wife, Gracia, would often enjoy going to the movies and I could get a review when I asked. He’d do anything for their daughters, Jennifer Vossman of Springfield, Kimberly Norris of San Clemente, California, and Debra Brodie of Rogers, Arkansas; and their five grandchildren: Devin, Erin and Shane Norris, and Kelsey and Mason Brodie. He imparted to me that raising a daughter would be worth all the time I could spend.

He had quite an impact on his siblings. He regularly talked with his brother, Roger Wallenstein, about life, especially the White Sox and his blog. He traveled to Chicago frequently to visit Roger and his sister, Lee Glazer.

One day, I discovered another nugget. John was an economist or, at least, he got his master’s in economics. His thesis was titled “Baseball and the Anti-Trust Laws.” As I mentioned, he loved the sport.

John eventually shared his marketing skills with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, where he got to know even more people in the community. When he took the WUIS position, he developed record business support for the station year after year. Every year his goal increased. Every year he exceeded it. Most recently, he added a new project to raise enough additional money for WUIS to hire a full-time education reporter. He succeeded, using the same low-key, respect-your-intelligence style that was his hallmark. Just before John died on Aug. 7, 2014, he was chairing the search committee that eventually completed the task of hiring Dusty Rhodes. He confided that he saw this project as being a signature accomplishment for his time at WUIS.

I worked with John closely for nearly seven years as his supervisor. He was my collaborator.

You can read more about John Wallenstein at http://wuis.org/topic/wuis-history.

Randy Eccles is the general manager and publisher of WUIS/Illinois Issues.