Clare Roth is an Iowa native who now calls Ohio home. After stints talk show producing and news magazine hosting, she's found her true passion in editing others' work.
A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Clare has never lived anywhere but the Midwest and doesn't see that changing anytime soon. She was recently a guest on WYSO Weekend and talks to host Jerry Kenney about her love of reporting — and baking.
Jerry Kenney: This is your First time in the new WYSO studios, what do you think?
Clare Roth: Oh my goodness, it's so gorgeous. It's so beautiful. So much natural light. I love it in here.
Kenney: So let's talk a little bit about your job first as managing editor of the Ohio newsroom. Give us a summary of the scope of that position.
Roth: Yeah, so if you've ever heard Today From The Ohio Newsroom, that is the flagship program of my team. And I was the original creator of that. I was first person in this position. So I planned all that out, figured out what we would focus on, how we would focus on it, which I'm sure we'll chat about, and hired my two reporters, Erin Gottsacker and Kendall Crawford, who listeners have almost surely heard on air. And we every day make a new feature from around the state. So I am guiding their pitches and their stories, I'm editing them, helping them get to air. I'm working with reporters from all over the state, people like Adriana Martinez-Smiley, the environmental reporter here, connecting with another environmental reporter in Cincinnati and in Cleveland and doing coordinated coverage of those sorts of things; series, like we did a run up to the last election where we looked at various issues that are happening all over Ohio. So I coordinate coverage that way.
And then I'm also looking at the overall direction of the newsroom. So we just hired a new reporter, an Appalachian reporter, and that person will be covering a very specific region in Appalachian Ohio. And that was something that I was behind, spearheading new projects like that.
Kenney: I wanna talk a little bit about the direction and the mission and what kind of stories you look for as a managing editor. But I remember when this collaboration was just getting off the ground and you paid a visit to each of the participating stations, right? Tell me a little about how much it took to get this off the grounds.
Roth: Yeah, so we are really lucky in Ohio. We have five newsrooms in different metros around the state. We've got Yellow Springs/Dayton here, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Athens. But there are so many places in the state that have no coverage, right? The Bucyruses, even the Toledos, where we have a station, but there are no reporters there.
"There is so much richness here and there's richness all over the state. And I feel really lucky that we get to unearth it, that we get to dig into it. "
So when I first started, I went to all of the stations and just really got a sense of A) What would you like this collaborative to be? You'll be running our coverage. You'll bring it to listeners. What do your listeners want and need? And also, B) what do you already have covered? So you'll notice that Erin and Kendall, they don't do any stories from Yellow Springs or Dayton because you all do such an excellent job of covering that.
But our goal is to unearth those stories you might not have heard. I'm thinking of one recently where they went to Trumbull County for a treasure hunt. Someone literally put on a treasure hunt, he garnered donations from around the city, and the clues to try to get more tourism to the area as they went on that treasure hunt. Just various things that are happening in places that you won't hear from unless you're listening to The Ohio Newsroom.
And that's something that was a really cool opportunity, but also a daunting one because of course, if no one's done what you're doing, then you don't have a road map to follow. And that was big challenge — really, really fun for me — but it took about six months of research before we really got going. Six months of my research before I hired my reporters and then another, I think, three to four months of us figuring out what will this look like? What is reporting most effective and what will be best for our listeners around the state?
Kenney: We've had a lot of great response to the program since its start here at this station, and I'm sure that's what you've heard from all over the state and the participating stations.
Roth: We have gotten a lot of great comments from listeners at every single station that we're participating in. And I really think that speaks to the sort of people that love public radio. Sometimes people are like, well, I only care about something if it's happening right down my street, but that's not how public radio listeners are. They want to know what's going on across all of Ohio. They wanna know how what's happening in their backyard might have an echo across the state. I'm thinking about.... We looked at accessory dwelling units and the different cities approaches to these what are called ADUs. And we were able to compare and contrast what was happening here in this part of the state with what's going on in Northeast Ohio and Northwest Ohio. And so I really think it speaks to the curiosity of listeners and to their hunger to know what's going on in their state. Our tagline is, "Today From The Ohio Newsroom connects you with news and neighbors from all over Ohio." And I really believe that that's true, that someone who's in Toledo is still my neighbor, even though I live in Columbus. And the same here in Yellow Springs, and the same in Steubenville, and the the same on the other border all over Ohio. We care about each other.
Kenney: That really makes sense. And I'll tell you, some of my favorite pieces are some of the quirky outlier stories that your reporters get to. First of all, go to a city they've never been to and then dig into this kind of weird, crazy festival that takes place every year, or even the "Made in Ohio" series. It really gives you an understanding of where we live and who our neighbors are.
Roth: Yes, and I lived in Columbus for four years. I was an All Things Considered host like you — at WOSU, unlike you. And I loved Columbus and I learned a ton about Columbus by being in that position. But I honestly didn't explore past Columbus. I would sometimes come to Yellow Springs because I love Yellow Springs. But beyond that, I didn't know what was going on in Ohio. I did not understand the scope of the state and its shape. And I'll tell you that we get people who say I've lived here for 30 years and I didn't know the thing that I discovered through your program. There is so much richness here and there's richness all over the state. And I feel really lucky that we get to unearth it, that we get to dig into it.
I wanted to major in the universe. I wanted learn about everything. And I thought that if I studied journalism, I would be able to stick a microphone in anyone's face and say, well, what's this like? What's that like? I felt like I would learn all of the time. And I also believe really deeply in conversation. I think that you can learn so much by talking with people. And that's, I think, what drew me to radio. I had a professor. I didn't know what public radio was. You know, you hear all these people are like, oh, I listen from the back seat. My family did not at all. And I was in college and I had to professors say, you know, you've got a decent voice. You might consider radio. And I was doing so poorly in all my journalism classes, and I was very starved for compliments. And so I was like, OK, I'll do that. And I applied to every station in my hometown and ended up in radio.
Kenney: It's great that a personal mission turned into a professional one.
Roth: Absolutely, and I will say personal mission wise and professional wise, I'm so lucky that they line up. I'm a Quaker. I really believe in the inherent dignity of every person. I believe in everyone's humanity and that if we can better see each other's humanity, we can live together more easily, better. And that is what I love about my job, that I get to learn about the humanity of all of these different Ohioans. And I feel like I know them even if I never get to meet them, because of course my reporters are the ones doing the hardest work and getting out there and finding those stories. So I am incredibly blessed. I can't believe that I get to do what I get do.
Kenney: Another reason we do these interviews is to find out a little bit of personal information about people who are working with WYSO and in our orbit. Tell us a little about yourself if you don't mind.
Roth: Well, my social security number is... I'm just kidding. Yeah, so I live in Columbus with my husband, Tommy. I have a stepdaughter, Kaitlyn. We have a cat, Nosferatu. Unlike her name suggests, she does not bite. She's very, very sweet.
Kenney: She's probably cuter too.
Roth: Yeah, I think so. And I came from Iowa. I grew up in Iowa. So I have a lot of Midwest pride. Went to school right outside of Chicago at Northwestern University and really ended up here for the job, thought that I'll probably move on from Ohio after a couple of years and really fell in love with the community I made here. Of course, fell in love with my husband, which helps. What else do I do? I'm a huge baker. I love baking. I love being able to follow a recipe and knowing that it's going to turn out — so few things in life are that way. I'm like, oh, if I add sugar and butter and eggs, it will turn into cookies. And people almost assuredly will like it. I just wish there were more sure things in life that way.
What else? I am going to Michigan next year for a fellowship. I'm very excited about that. I'll be in Ann Arbor for the year, learning more about journalism, bringing those lessons back to the Ohio Newsroom.
Kenney: Before we move on, biggest success story as far as baking.
Roth: During the COVID-19 pandemic, my first birthday during the Covid years, I made a Swedish princess cake, which I'd seen on Great British Bake Off years before. And I'd always thought, oh my gosh, that looks amazing. And it's multiple layers of Victorian sponge. I made my own jam. I made my own custard, made my whipped cream. And then you have to roll out marzipan, dye it green. I made marzipan. I covered it. It was such a production. It's very fun to do something like that and get to share it with people. I tell my husband, I'll make you anything you want except for laminated dough because like croissants, that's too much work. I've done it before, I won't do it again.
Just the other day my stepdaughter asked me if I would make a certain cake for her next birthday. She's like, could you make a black forest cake? And there's nothing better than using a skillset to make someone you love happy. And so that's why I really like baking. It's so fun to be able to do that for people.
