Terra Brantley

“We’re here to serve you.”

That’s the message President and General Manager Terra Brantley wants reverberated to WBOI 89.1 Northeast Indiana Public Radio listeners. This community advocate and multi-award-winning former news anchor officially took the helm of NIPR in late January 2022.

“I am a long-time supporter of WBOI and public radio,” said Brantley. “In fact, my broadcasting career began as an intern, turned on-air personality at WOUB AM/FM, the public radio station run by my alma mater Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.” After more than 35 award-winning years in commercial television, 28 anchoring the morning and evening newscasts at WANE TV, Brantley is coming full circle and getting back to her public radio roots.

These roots run deep. Brantley has lived in Allen County, Indiana for almost 30 years, serving as a community servant, advocate, and trusted news anchor. In June 2021, Brantley retired from WANE TV as Indiana’s longest serving African American news anchor, to become President/CEO of the Fort Wayne Urban League (FWUL).

“During Terra’s time with the FWUL she provided excellent leadership and positive progress,” said former FWUL Board Chair Ken Christmon. “Her positive impact within the community and innovative programming ideas impacted the quality of life for clients and effectively elevated the awareness of FWUL throughout the community.”

“Terra has the media expertise, leadership skills and vision to take WBOI into the future,” said Lynne Gilmore, chair of NIPR’s Board of Trustees. “She is “highly-respected in the community and well-positioned to cultivate and build strong relationships to grow support for public radio.”

Terra’s professional broadcasting career is laced with accolades that include induction into the Indiana Associated Press Hall of Fame. This achievement encapsulates her personal commitment to excellence, community involvement and leadership.

She’s won numerous first place awards from the Indiana Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. She is also an Emmy Award winner and recipient of community service awards.

In 2018, the Civil and Human Rights Committee of UAW Local 2209 honored her with its Mark of Excellence Award. In 2017 she was recognized with an Indiana Women’s Commission Torchbearer Award in Indianapolis. In 2015, the Fort Wayne Boys and Girls Club honored her as its Brilliant Woman of the Year. She’s also been named the Healthier Moms and Babies Inspirational Mother of the Year.

Other honors include the Indiana Black Expo Broadcast Media Award, The Society of Professional Journalists Minority Coverage Award, The Indiana Broadcasters Association Spectrum Award, The Indiana Black Expo’s Liz Daily Crawford Broadcast Media Award, The YWCA of Northeast Indiana’s Women of Achievement Award, The Fort Wayne Chapter of the Indiana Black Expo’s Torch Bearer Award and the Fort Wayne NAACP Media Award, among others.

She is also the President and CEO of the Terra Brantley Foundation which awards scholarships to low income women and minorities. She partners with the Fort Wayne Boys and Girls Clubs and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Huntington County to select recipients.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Terra graduated from Bedford High School as the 1982 class commencement speaker. As a McGraw-Hill scholarship winner, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications in 1986 from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. In 2014 she earned a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Indiana Institute of Technology.

Terra also emcees many events and serves as a motivational speaker. She candidly reflects on overcoming domestic violence as a child and young adult and the life she now enjoys as a happily married woman with two children.

“I am thrilled that my new position at WBOI enables me to combine two of my passions into the perfect marriage, nonprofit work and broadcasting,” said Brantley. “I also have the privilege to team up with a talented staff and board of directors who are committed to serving our listeners with news and cultural programs to invigorate their lives. We’re going to have a blast as we prepare for a dynamic year!”