Our Faculty Advisors

Shane Holinde
Broadcast Weather Advisor

Contact Shane
Email:  shane.holinde@wku.edu
Check out his forecast:  www.wbko.com/weather
Facebook him at:  www.facebook.com/fanpage

Jo-anne Ryan
Production Advisor

Contact Jo-anne
Email: jo-anne.ryan@wku.edu
Office:  337 Mass Media and Technology Hall
Phone:  (270) 745-3828

James LeTourneau
News Advisor

Contact James
Email:  james.letourneau@wku.edu
Office:  312 Mass Media and Technology Hall
Phone:  (270) 745-8856

   
    Shane Holinde is now in his 8th year of weather forecasting. He actually started his career at WBKO-TV in the production department in summer 2000 before joining the First Alert Storm Team in March 2001. In Spring 2003, Shane was named weeknight weathercaster for WBKO-ABC. He is a member of the National Weather Association and earned the broadcast seal of approval in November 2006. He has been honored three times by the Kentucky Associated Press for "Best Weather Anchor" in TV Division II (in 2006, 2007, and 2009), with a second place award in that category in 2008.
   
    Shane is a 2002 graduate of Western Kentucky University, where he double majored in broadcast journalism and geosciences. While at WKU, Shane worked as a weather and news reporter/anchor for the student TV newscast. He also spent a semester as a disc jockey for WWHR-FM (then known as New Rock 92) and has been known to spin some tunes at sound-&-light shows in his native Owensboro for a unit appropriately known as Thunder and Lightning Music. Near the end of his college tenure, Shane completed a weather internship at WKLY, the CBS affiliate in Louisville.

    Shane has been a weather nut since he was in diapers! He is too young to recall it, but his parents site the "Great Ohio Valley Blizzard of 1978" as the first big weather event that enthralled their son while growing up near Owensboro, KY. Some years later, Shane got his first taste of performing in front of an audience, broadcasting a weather forecast drawn on poster board for his fellow grade school students. Almost two decades have past since those days, but Shane retains that same enthusiasm for meteorology, having covered everything from ice storms to tornadoes.

    An avid parrothead, Shane enjoys the music and writings of Jimmy Buffett (he has been to 14 concerts and counting!). He also enjoys reading, watching sports, as well as bike riding and fishing on those sunny and 75 kind of days. He has even done a little singing and dancing on the side, too! In Summer 2007, Shane portrayed bad guy "Jud" in the Fountain Square Players production of "Oklahoma" at the Capitol Arts Center in Bowling Green. Shane has also participated in both versions of "Dancing With Bowling Green's Own" benefitting Make-a-Wish, finishing second in the April 2008 competition. Currently, Shane resides in Bowling Green with his wife Brenda and miniature dachshund Delaney. In October 2008, Shane and Brenda welcomed their first child, Nora Joyce Holinde, to the world.

  
    Jo-anne Ryan is the production manager for the Storm Team, and has been since the organization began.  She is the assistant director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University.  She has been teaching at Western since 1988, starting as a full time instructor and working her way up.  Her specialty includes electronic media programming and research, television production, and broadcast advertising.
    Jo-anne graduated from Western in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication.  She received her master's degree in broadcasting from Murray State University in 1991. 
    She worked at WBKO-TV in Bowling Green from 1976 through 1988.  During her time at WBKO, she worked as the Director of Creative Services and Marketing, as well as Production Manager, producer/director, traffic manager, sales assistant, and commercial copywriter.  
    She has been doing freelance producing since 1988.
    During this time, she has held several important positions, such as Grant Director and Grant Co-Director for the Kentucky Cabinet for Workforce Development.
  

    James LeTourneau has been the news advisor for the Storm Team for several years.  He is currently an assistant professor for the School of Journalism and Broadcasting.  He is also the news advisor for WWHR-FM Revolution 91-7, and one of the news advisors for News Channel 12.  His specialty includes introdution courses to news and broadcasting, as well as news discovery, news reporting, and advanced broadcast news.
    James graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelors of arts degree in History.  He also received his masters of arts degree in Journalism at UW-Madison.
    He has worked in several news stations from Wyoming to Wisconsin to Illinois.  He was sports director for KGWC-TV in Casper, Wyoming, and has served as News Director for WQOW-TV in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, WREX-TV in Rockford, Illinois, WHBF-TV in Rock Island , IL (the Quad Cities area), and WMTV in Madison, Wisconson.
    He has also worked in radio as well.  He has been program directors for WYXE-FM in Madison, Wisconsin, WFAW-WSJY in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and at WNDU AM & FM in South Bend, Indiana.
    He has hosted several workshops and seminars, and is a current member of the Radio and Televison News Directors Association.