If you thought Garry Moore would take it easy in retirement after 33 years with Peoria’s WEEK-TV, most of which were spent as the station’s morning news anchor, think again.
Moore and wife Denise, the former Peoria City Councilwoman, operate WPNV-LP, “Peoria’s Neighborhood Voice” radio station. When he’s not programming the station’s Sunday jazz program, Moore’s conducting interviews with local leaders and spotlighting local public events. An accomplished drummer, he also serves as a music teacher teaching at Quest Charter Academy in Peoria.
Last year, Moore published The Little Black Book For Journalists (Un) Afraid of Race, recollections involving race from his time in the media with Moore raising questions for journalists designed to open eyes and provoke dialogue.
This month, Moore is even busier, taking part, as he has in years past, in Black History Month programs that have taken him to Milwaukee and Aurora as well as Eureka College.
In an interview with WCBU’s Steve Tarter, Moore talked about some of the changes he’s seen in Peoria’s media, noting that the daily Sunday paper, once bristling with sections on area events, business, and the arts, now often contained only one or two local stories. TV news teams tend to be younger while facing near-constant turnover as local stations offer a profusion of repetitious newscasts, he said.
“In a word, money has driven media to where is in terms of being challenged to deliver for the public by a small number of companies that own the majority of media today,” said Moore. “What you are seeing is the result of money at play taking precedence over reinvestment in the product,” he said.
The future of the media is in the hands of people willing to dedicate themselves to journalism, said Moore. “I like what I’m seeing at the Community Word,” he said of the Peoria monthly edited by Brian Ludwig, a former Peoria Journal Star employee.
“I think you have people (at the Word) who worked in media and decided to take it upon themselves to do some quality articles and reach out to some people in the community,” he said.
