William Dahlberg
Executive Director
Will has been WBHM's Executive Director and General Manager since 2022, having previously served twice as the interim-Executive Director. He first joined WBHM in 2012 as an unpaid news intern while finishing graduate school, later becoming the Membership Manager in 2013, and the Deputy Director in 2018. In leading WBHM and the Gulf States Newsroom, Will is focused on the the future of the organization and how public media and the organization can best serve the entire heart of Alabama. He has a strong commitment to increasing the organization's financial sustainability, growing the diversity of the WBHM team and the audiences it serves, as well as increasing collaboration and resource sharing across all of public media.
Will is proud to come from a blue-collar background and has spent time in a variety of professions in the past several decades prior to WBHM. He has worked as an orderly at a morgue, dishwasher, landscaper, pouring concrete sidewalks, bartender and pizza chef, archival assistant, director of first year housing at a university, pharmaceutical industry researcher, newspaper reporter, and freelance radio reporter/producer. His very first job as a piano and organ technician in Vermont is where he first encountered public radio and made his first membership donation to support his local station back in 2000.
Born in upstate New York, Will spent much of his life growing up in Vermont before going to Hiram College in Ohio and graduate school at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Will currently resides in West Homewood with his wife, one teenager, three dogs, and a parakeet that his wife rescued from Lowes. When he isn't talking about all things WBHM, Will is an avid reader, loves watching movies (particularly at Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema), listening to podcasts, attending Birmingham Barons and Legion games, and exploring his local community. Will currently serves on the board of historic Oak Hill Cemetery and is a Citizen Archivist volunteer with the National Archives. He is a longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
Will can be reached at 205-934-2264 or at [email protected]
Why I Support WBHM: Scott Hildebrandt
“I like WBHM because NPR has been a fixture of my life ever since I was a kid, really really little. So, now NPR is kind of grown with me. It’s very relevant to me as an adult for the news coverage the civil debates. And I think having a source for reliable and responsible […]
Found Sound: The Alabama Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer Memorializes Buster Norris
A "found sound" story of organ recordings from the Alabama's Theatre's Mighty Wurlitzer Organ.
“Confederates in the Attic” Author On The Confederate Flag Debate
The South has been grappling with what to do about Confederate symbols since a gunman shot 9 people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last month. Tony Horwitz, a bestselling author and journalist, spoke with WBHM's Will Dahlberg about Confederate imagery, memorabilia and monuments, and whether the United States should collectively push these pieces of history aside.
Hostess to the Civil Rights Movement
The best remembered images of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama are of fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham and officers attacking marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. But today we bring you the story of one woman working to preserve the behind- the-scenes role her house played in the movement's history.
Diane McWhorter on Civil Rights 50th Anniversary
Birmingham is now in month four of commemorating the Civil Rights events of 1963. Some people welcome the chance to remember. Others say it was 50 years ago, why open old wounds?
New Panels for Storm Shelters
Alabama has escaped the brunt of Hurricane Isaac, but the storm does serve as a reminder that severe weather can bring danger and even death. So researchers at UAB are developing new building materials intended to create safer storm shelters. Recently a high-tech panel they created passed the National Storm Shelter Association’s tornado threat test, a key step to making such panels commercially viable. WBHM intern Will Dahlberg spoke with the project’s leader, Dr. Uday Vaidya, who says the material in these panels in rather unique.
Tropical Storm Isaac Update
Tropical Storm Isaac is churning across the Gulf of Mexico and while its current path won’t mean a direct hit for Alabama, the state will still feel the effects of this storm. Governor Robert Bentley has declared a state of emergency and ordered evacuations of low lying areas along the gulf coast. WBHM intern Will Dahlberg spoke with John DeBlock with the National Weather Service in Birmingham about the latest storm forecast.
August 7 Morning Newscast
Mark A. Elgart President and Chief Executive Officer of AdvanceEd says he has serious concerns with Birmingham Board of Education and testimony continues in a lawsuit between Allan Pizzato and the Alabama Public Television Commission.
Testimony from the Alabama Public Television Lawsuit
Testimony in a Jefferson County courtroom is revealing more details about the unexpected firing of former Alabama Public Television executive director Allan Pizzato. Pizzato filed suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court against the Alabama Education Television Commission and its seven members, claiming they violated the state’s open meetings law when they fired him at a June 12th meeting.
Lacrosse in a Football State
If there's one sport that's synonymous with Alabama, it's football. But in recent years, a much older team sport has grown significantly in Birmingham and around the state.
