Wayne Rosberg

It’s always good to give something back in life

As the story goes, a man from Boston, lost in Vermont, asked an old timer “How do you get to Barre? The Vermonter said “I don’t know.” “Well, said the Bostonian, where are we?” Again the old timer said, “I don’t know.” The Bostonian said, “Do you know anything?” The old timer said, “Well at least I know I’m not lost!”

Well, it’s apparent to the staff of WCTE that Vermonter Wayne Rosberg, the consulting engineer helping WCTE in the digital conversion is never lost, even if he has been transported from Jeffersonville, VT to Cookeville, TN.
Wayne first came to Cookeville in August of 2005, upon the recommendation of two other consultants, Hope Green and Bob Arns, for a station technical evaluation. Arns and Green had worked for several years with WCTE, through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, assisting small stations throughout the country with the digital transition.
During Wayne’s initial visit, it was apparent that WCTE, a strong local PBS station, was serving the community, but needed help in funding and building a digital broadcast facility. “One thing I saw,” Wayne said, “was a vibrance and an energy here that you don’t often see in a station. I was also impressed with the amount of local production generated by the WCTE staff.”
It was that “can do” spirit that gave Wayne the incentive to contract with WCTE to supervise the technical transition and seek funding for the digital conversion. Wayne, along with Arns and Green have been instrumental in writing grants totaling three million dollars in federal funds to this effort. There are still matching monies to be raised, but without those grant monies, WCTE’s future would have been in jeopardy.
“I’m not saying,” he said, “that there haven’t been difficult moments in the past year, but it’s exciting to see a lot of things coming together for WCTE. The four grants awarded should get us well on our way to being a very
viable TV station.”
“You know,” he said, “a consulting engineer rarely gets to see a major project of this kind through to the end. At the time I started all this, I thought it would belong to someone else, but as it turned out, I’m the guy and I’m happy to see these grants and projects to completion.”
WCTE General Manager, Becky Magura can’t get over the station’s good fortune in finding Wayne. “He identified so many needs once he started coming regularly and he has been willing to address all of the issues. He’s also financially supportive of the station as he and his wife, Eva, are members of our Directors Circle.” It just goes with Wayne’s philosophy, “It’s always good to give something back in life”. Wayne says “It’s that can do attitude of the WCTE staff that makes me want to come back. The traveling can be hard, but I like the region. It’s a beautiful part of the country and the people are wonderful.”
Wayne believes bringing WCTE up to speed will have a positive impact on the community. Through WCTE’s educational outreach and local productions, he believes the station will make maximum use of multi-casting.
In conclusion Wayne said, “Frankly you’ve got a great staff. It’s actually been fun and when we’re complete, I’ll miss being here, especially in winter!”
The staff will never forget Wayne and in less than a year when you, as a viewer, see a beautiful digital picture, watch local productions taped in high definition and know that WCTE continues to serve the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee, we hope you’ll think about Wayne Rosberg, a native Vermonter who got “lost” for a time in the Upper Cumberland....thank God!