UPR chief engineer Friend Weller retires
Friend Weller’s interest in radio started in his childhood. Growing up, his dad had an old radio in the garage that Weller would go out and tinker with when he got home from school.
“This radio — when you turned it on, the light didn’t come on to the dial, and the tubes didn’t light up,” Weller said. “The power cord was an old rubber cord that was frayed in a number of places, and my dad was like ‘You’re going to get shocked.’”
One of these days as he worked on the radio, it turned on. The lights brightened and music came out of the speaker.
“At that time, I was like, ‘I must be in radio now,’” Weller said.
This month, Weller is retiring from his position as chief engineer at Utah Public Radio, or UPR.
He started his career in radio as a student at Utah State University with an internship with KUSU-FM in 1981.
After he graduated from USU in 1987 with a degree in speech, Weller began working at KVNU, a radio station in Cache Valley. After working a few other jobs around the valley, he returned to working at USU, doing satellite uplink for classes around the state from 1997 until 2004.
During his time working for USU, Weller started working part-time at UPR. He became chief engineer at the station in 2005 and has worked in that position ever since.
“It’s a very stable position,” Weller said. “That may not be terribly exciting, by some people’s standards. But there’s plenty of excitement around here. There’s always things going on, things that we need to address, things that need to be taken care of.”
Weller said his position involves doing a wide variety of things, from filling in on the air and repairing the transmitter to plunging the toilet and replacing a lightbulb.
Friend Weller records in a studio in the Utah Public Radio station on Dec. 5.
“There’s nothing that happens here at UPR that I could not do,” Weller said. “But then again, after 43 years of experience in the radio industry, I would hope that I would know how to do pretty much everything.”
UPR station co-manager Kerry Bringhurst has known Weller since she started working at the station as host of Morning Edition in 2007.
“Friend is really the person who helped me understand after transitioning from analog in my early years of broadcasting to then, digital,” Bringhurst said. “He really is the one that helped set me up, get me trained, helped me understand the digital system.”
Weller is always listening to the station and monitoring it to listen for any issues.
Bringhurst said even when she runs into issues while hosting the Morning Edition show at 6 a.m., Weller is ready to help and fix the problem.
“I will text or call him, and he’s like ‘I know,’” Bringhurst said. “He’s already aware of what’s going on, trying to have a plan to fix it.”
Tom Williams, UPR station co-manager and Access Utah host, said there have been times when Weller has jumped in to host shows when the host is unavailable. Williams said Weller is very versatile and willing to do just about everything.
Each year, UPR holds a special edition of Access Utah on the first day of the state legislative session where they interview the governor at the Capitol. Williams said one year, there was a snowstorm, and he was running late to get to the Capitol. Williams called Weller, who was already there, and told him he would have to interview the governor in his place.
“I don’t think he’s ever told me that he couldn’t do something,” Bringhurst said.
Bringhurst and Williams both said even if Weller doesn’t know the answer or know how to fix something right away, he will figure it out.
“He appreciates what public radio stands for and what we do here,” Williams said. “And he’s willing to be creative in, ‘OK, how can we share this information or do a live broadcast?’ He’ll always figure it out.”
After his retirement, Weller has a few projects he plans to work on with his free time. He said he wants to fix up his yard, and he also has a travel trailer that he has been working on fixing up for a few years.
Weller also runs his own radio station that plays oldies music and services the south end of Cache Valley. He plans to dedicate more of his time to this station after leaving UPR.
“I will not be bored,” Weller said. “It’s like I told my neighbors: if you see me sitting on the front porch, in the rocking chair, it’s only because I’ve taken a little breather as I’m running from one side of the house to the other side. I’ve got lots going on.”
Bringhurst and Williams said Weller will be missed at UPR, not just because of the work that he does but because of the friendships he has built with everyone.
Williams said he and Weller always make obscure references together, such as quoting “M*A*S*H,” and that they often argue about their different tastes in music. He said these are all things he will miss.
“One thing that I’ll miss and that I really appreciate about Friend is he cares about everybody. He just wants everybody to be OK,” Williams said. “If you’re having a bad day, you know, Friend will probably appear.”
Weller said he loves working in radio, and he believes it is what he was born to do.
“There’s nothing I would rather be doing than this,” Weller said.