School of Journalism and Media alumnus Wesley Loy in Cordova, Alaska (Photo courtesy of Bob Hallinen).
School of Journalism and Media alumnus Wesley Loy (’84) can still recall his father’s misgivings when he decided to pursue a career in journalism.
“But once he saw my name for the first time on the cover of The Knoxville Journal he was blown away by that,” Loy said. “He thought it was the greatest thing ever to tell all his friends ‘Look, my boy is in the newspaper.’.”
Loy has worked nearly 40 years in the journalism industry covering everything from breaking news stories in Florida to investigative stories about the oil industry in Alaska.
He first intended to study engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. However, as he started his college career, he found he excelled more in English composition than math and science. This forced him to consider making a living in writing and viewed becoming a journalist as the best way to do that, even though it mortified him.
“I was a shy person,” Loy said. “The idea of going up to perfect strangers and asking them about their business was a turnoff. But then I quickly learned that journalism was the most powerful profession to choose.”
Supporting Future Vols
His belief in the industry has translated into donations to his alma mater to support the next generation of journalists. He thinks there is so much opportunity for students today to get the needed hands-on experience to set them up for success post-graduation.
He is especially blown away by the work being done through The Media Center and properties such as WUOT. He especially appreciated their coverage of Hurricane Helene.
“I’m listening to All Things Considered on NPR and I hear Pierce Gentry’s story,” Loy said. “He did quite a good story out of Erwin and it was on the main news program nationally. That’s a feather in your cap.”
He said one thing he regrets not doing as a student was to learn broadcasting in addition to print journalism. He added he should have walked into WUTK and asked to be trained on operating a radio board. He encourages students to not wait and to take advantage of as many hands-on opportunities that they can as a student.
Learning by Doing
Excited by the opportunities his newly decided career path may take him, Loy did not wait to get experience in the field while in college. He was eager to start reporting and began cold-calling editors at The Knoxville Journal seeking to write assignments during holidays and summers.
They took him up on his offer, which gave him an edge once he started working professionally as he started building his writing portfolio as a student. He also sought out internships at other newspapers in his pursuit of getting as much writing experience as he could.
On campus, he got hands-on experience in the field through The Daily Beacon.
“The Daily Beacon became my life,” Loy said. “I majored in the Beacon.”
Working mainly in the news department at the Beacon, Loy fondly remembers his time there. He enjoyed how the students running the paper weren’t afraid to hold the UT administration accountable, recalling how they regularly met with the chancellor to go over budget details and tackled timely-and-controversial topics such as construction of the Thompson-Boling Arena.
Loy is grateful for key people who guided his journalism studies at UT, including Kelly Leiter, Paul Ashdown and James Crook.
“These guys were all so important in pushing and encouraging me,” he said.
Post-graduation, Loy accepted a position with The Orlando Sentinel in Florida as a police reporter. He covered murders, drug busts, hurricanes, and several “Florida man” stories which made for exciting articles.
However, he soon tired of the heat and wanted to move somewhere colder and out west, which eventually led him to The Anchorage Daily News in Alaska.
He started off as a business reporter, taking a short break to earn his master’s degree in Southern studies from the University of Mississippi and work for the Knoxville News Sentinel, before returning to Alaska to cover the oil and commercial fishing industries.
It was in covering the commercial fishing industry that Loy started to truly distinguish himself as a journalist. Loy said the industry is under-reported despite its impact.
“It’s a very complex business,” Loy said. “It’s very intricate and intense and there’s a lot of politics that surround commercial fishing, that’s the area of the industry that I liked. There is a lot of regulation of commercial fishing and there’s a big need for fish journalism and that just appealed to me.”
Along with reporting on the industry, he also started a blog about it called Deckboss where he still regularly posts about Alaska commercial fishing news even though he is no longer working in the industry.
After leaving The Anchorage Daily News, he freelanced and then served for ten years as editor of Pacific Fishing, a Seattle-based trade journal covering the North Pacific commercial fishing industry.
Now living again in East Tennessee, Loy said he isn’t ready to retire and will continue the craft through freelance work and managing Deckboss.
“They say that a lot of writers write because they just got to write,” Loy said. “Maybe I am one of those.”