Remembering WMNF Icon Rob Lorei

Last weekend, the Tampa Bay community lost perhaps its most iconic figure of independent journalism and community radio. Rob Lorei, WMNF's very first News & Public Affairs Director—a position he held for more than 40 years before he retired earlier this year due to his battle with cancer—passed away at 70.

Lorei was also a founding member of the station, one of the volunteers who went door-to-door to build awareness and support for its launch. After earning a journalism degree from Antioch College, Lorei responded to an ad seeking people interested in establishing a non-commercial community radio station in Tampa. After Lorei did the hard work to help get the community radio station off the ground, he went on to become the face, or rather the voice, of the station as well.  

I began listening to Lorei almost immediately after moving to Florida in 2001. That unforgettable voice was one of the calmest, steadiest, and most principled I had ever come across. Lorei was best known for hosting the daytime public affairs show, Radioactivity, during which he would patiently moderate caller comments. That unmistakable voice evenly officiated what were often passionate positions being expressed, ranging from thoughtful and poignant to angry or even absurd.

Even when you knew that Lorei deeply disagreed with a caller's perspective, his ability to refrain from sounding cantankerous or combative was quite impressive. Rob had what I increasingly find to be a rare skill: he knew how to truly hear people whose opinion he did not share and then find the spaces, no matter how slender, where they might build a philosophical bridge. He also had an admirable ability to play devil's advocate when a caller did share a similar viewpoint, rather than simply reinforcing their position as so many hosts do today.

Lorei also hosted the public affairs program Florida This Week on WEDU PBS, from 2001 until stepping away this March, around the same time he left WMNF.

A devout Catholic in the best sense of the term, Lorei was an archenemy of social injustice and a tireless champion of the underdog. Whether it was arguing on behalf of the Immokalee farm workers in their fight to get Publix to only purchase tomatoes from growers who pay a fair wage, or shining a light on the plights of a wide array of marginalized groups in our region, Lorei's voice was far more powerful in its impact than his gentle tone could ever suggest. 

Apparently, Rob's passion could cause him to get his dander up more than most listeners could probably imagine, as evidenced by the radio station firing him not once but twice, only to bring him back when it became clear that the WSLR community would have it no other way. 

I first met Rob at Amalie Arena while covering the 2012 Republican National Convention. The Bradenton Times had only been in publication for less than three years, and I was floored when he complimented me on a column I had written about phosphate mining and congratulated me on the work the paper had done on the subject. I am not sure that anything could have validated our efforts at that point or let us know we were on the right track more than a nod of approval from Mr. Lorei—issued via that unforgettable voice I had spent so many hours listening to in my car, nonetheless. 

In his final interview, Rob was asked what he hoped people would take away from his legacy. 

"Just never give up," said Lorei. "The struggle is always worth it. In the end, you're on the right side of history."

Wise words from a good man who will undoubtedly fall on the correct side of the historical record. Godspeed, Rob Lorei. Rest in Power.