ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Carolyn Bailey Lewis had the word “first” associated with her name many times. She was the first Black woman to graduate from the WVU’s journalism school, the first Black woman to lead a public television station in the continental U.S. and the first woman to lead WOUB Public Media, among many other accomplishments in her life.
Lewis died Wednesday at the age of 78, according to a social media post from her daughter.
Born in Pittsburgh, she was raised in Bluefield, West Virginia, by her aunt after her mother and grandmother fell ill when she was an infant.
In an interview with Ohio University history major Stephen Gaydos conducted in March for the Recording Memory: Methods and Uses of Oral History class, Lewis described her childhood. She she attended segregated schools, lived in a segregated neighborhood and spent a lot of time at her aunt’s Hotel Thelma and Travelers Inn, which are now on the National Historic Register.
“We entertained people like Ike and Tina Turner because it was on the Chitlin Circuit,” Lewis said. “They couldn’t stay in the other hotels because of segregation. James Brown, Sam Cooke, Little Richard. … So I grew up as a 7, 8, 9-year-old watching all of this at the hotel.”
Lewis went on to attend West Virginia University and became the first Black woman to graduate from the P.I. Reed School of Journalism in 1971.
Her storied career in public media began upon graduation at WNPB-TV, a PBS station in Morgantown, West Virginia, as a writer and announcer. She the rose the ranks to community relations manager and then public information and graphic design manager.
She was then named general manager in 1993, becoming the first Black woman to lead a public television station in the continental U.S.
“It was rough because I would go to meetings and nobody looked like me,” Lewis said. “You’re sometimes dismissed as a woman and as a Black woman.”
However, she learned to be bold in her position and to “own the table.”
After helping guide WNPB to awards-winning programming and a transformation from analog to digital transmission, Lewis was hired to lead the WOUB Center for Public Media at Ohio University as director and general manager in 1997. She was the first woman and first African American to serve in that role at WOUB.
“She brought an unwavering passion for public media, along with a wealth of knowledge and experience,” WOUB Interim General Manager Steve Skidmore, who worked with Lewis during her tenure, said. “Even more remarkable was her compassion for people and her dedication to education. She never stopped teaching, inspiring people of all ages. Her door was always open to employees and students alike, and she led by example every day.
“All of us who had the privilege of working with her were truly blessed. We will deeply miss her wisdom, her kindness and her warm smile.”
Her tenure was marked with major changes for the station. A multimillion dollar fundraising campaign funded the conversion for television stations to digital transmission. A major programming change came for radio transitioning from music to increased news programming.
Lewis recalled the change in radio was led by the Corporation for Broadcasting’s funding being tied to how well a station did in fundraising.
“Jazz programming wasn’t doing well. They said ‘You’re going to lose money if you keep the jazz programming,’” she said. “We cut out jazz and you would have thought we killed somebody’s grandma because they called me, they sent me letters, they called (Ohio University president at the time Robert Glidden).”
She said the move also provided accurate news to places that couldn’t otherwise get it.
“That’s why it’s so important the programming that we would do, that the station does,” Lewis said. “They can’t find anywhere else.”
(In 2021, Lewis spoke about her life for an episode of the Spectrum podcast. You can listen to that interview below.)
Her leadership received national recognition as she became a member of the board of trustees of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), a member of the board of directors of the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) and chair of the PBS Advertising and Promotion Advisory Committee.
During her time with WOUB, Lewis also completed her doctor of philosophy degree in communications studies at Ohio University and served as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Media Arts and Studies and the School of Communication Studies.
Education was an important part of her life, especially working with students at WOUB.
“Just watching them grow,” Lewis said. “I look on TV and I see Matt Barnes, I see Allie LaForce, John Klemack, who’s been on Dateline. I thought, ‘Those are my students.’”
Upon her retirement in 2011 after leading WOUB for 14 years, Lewis became the first woman to be named director emerita of the WOUB Center for Public Media. The Dr. Carolyn Bailey Lewis Leadership Award at WOUB Public Media was created in her honor in 2024, an endowment to support annual leadership awards for students involved at WOUB.
She remained active in the community after retirement, authoring the book “Love and Loss: The Storied Nature of Nursing Home Care,” co-founding the nonprofit Dr. Carolyn Foster Bailey Lewis Family Foundation, co-founding a greeting card company, and serving on many boards like the Ohio University Alumni Board of Directors.
Lewis was also a prominent advocate for people with disabilities as a member of the Athens City Commission on Disabilities and the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
In 1995, a benign tumor in her spinal cord completely paralyzed her and required an 11-hour surgery to remove it. Lewis told WOUB in a 2022 interview about her book that the intensive surgery did not completely allow her to permanently regain her mobility.
“About every four or five years after that surgery, I would lose my mobility again. I would struggle and have to return to rehab to get back to walking again,” she said. “I had to be life-flighted several times. A couple of times I had sepsis, and bleeding on the brain. I had a feeding tube for a time.”
Lewis said she took these experiences and her familiarity with using a wheelchair to advocate for and help others.
When asked by Gaydos how she thought all of her firsts affected how she viewed her role and impact on the broadcasting industry, she reflected on when she first learned about being the first Black woman to lead a public television station.
“I knew I had to get it right for those coming behind me and there were indeed lots coming behind me,” she said. “So when I would go to meetings, I would try to speak up, take my place at the table … and just to let my voice be heard.”
A celebration of life is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Jagers & Sons Funeral Home at 24 Morris Ave. in Athens, according to her obituary.
Editor’s Note (10/26 1:07 p.m.): A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled John Klemack’s name. It has been updated to correct the error.
This story was originally published by WOUB and is republished here with permission.
