Bob Oakes

Class of 1974

Seeing Mount Wachusett Community College’s broadcasting equipment for himself in 1972 convinced Bob Oakes this was the place to hone his journalism skills. Oakes toured the college after long-time MWCC veteran Vincent Ialenti, who was then a public communications professor, paid a college-recruitment visit to Charlton High School. “I was so taken by the thought of being able to enter a broadcast program that was so hands-on in nature,” Oakes said. “It was hands down for The Mount when the acceptance letter came.”

More than three decades later, Oakes is an award-winning radio journalist. He became WBUR’s assistant news director and the local Morning Edition anchor in 1992. He also worked at WEEI when it was an all-news station, the CBS Radio Network and radio stations in Connecticut and New Hampshire. Oakes has covered every presidential campaign since former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis ran for president in 1988, the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and Kosovo after NATO troops kicked out Serbian forces. “It’s been an interesting career,” he said.

His two years at MWCC made success possible. “I believe I learned more about broadcasting in two years at The Mount than I have in any concentrated two-year period since,” he said. That’s partly because he secured an internship his second year. “I tell college and high-school students today about my experience and, whatever their field is, if they can, they shouldn’t leave college without having an internship. There is no substitute for being out in the field,” Oakes said.

In the classroom, Ialenti and part-time professor Jack Borden, a former newscaster with Boston’s WBZ channel 4, made lasting impressions on Oakes. Borden gave “some terrific advice…that I still use today.” Oakes recalls Ialenti talking on the first day of class about the challenges of finding jobs in radio. “It was a great motivator,” he said.