Tony Krabill has been appointed as the general manager of 91.1 The Globe, Goshen College’s student-run radio station. Krabill will join this role alongside Jason Samuel ’93, who will be committing 75% of his time to the athletic department as the head coach of the men’s and women’s disc golf teams.

Alongside Samuel’s reduced role in the department, Duane Stoltzfus ’81 also retired from teaching during this academic year. Kyle Hufford, professor of communication, is now chair of the department. 

A native of Iowa, Krabill attended Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. After graduation, he worked in Christian radio in Ohio before joining WVPE-FM, the National Public Radio station for Elkhart County. 

Krabill explained how he was approached about applying for the job. “Jason asked me out for coffee,” he said. “He’s doing disc golf, and he needs some help. As I’ve told others, I did not have this on my radar or bingo card.”

Samuel will remain involved in an advisory role at The Globe, with Krabill inheriting his teaching duties. He has visions of bringing podcasting to GC and educating students in NPR-style audio editing. 

Krabill appreciates the welcome he has received from GC students. “That was one of the reasons that I accepted the position, because I felt like I developed enough of a rapport in that brief period with the student staff [to think] I can do this,” Krabill said. “I’m 58 years old, and I can still relate to college students.”

Samuel said he welcomes the opportunity to work with another experienced member of the non-commercial radio world. “Instead of being a one-man wolf pack, now we’ve got a dynamic duo,”  Samuel said.

Samuel will still spend a quarter of his time with The Globe. He described his plans for this time. “I’ll be able to work with our sportscasters. I’ll be able to work with our labels, the promoters and the artists that are part of Globe Music Presents, or if we’re doing campaigns or giveaways or concerts or any of that kind of stuff. That’s a wheelhouse item for me,” Samuel said. 

Samuel believes that Krabill’s inheritance of his educational responsibilities also serves as an opportunity to further strengthen his connection with GC students. “We’ve given that over to Tony to help him build better relationships faster by being in the classroom as well because that’s  a natural point for him to be at with these things,” Samuel said. 

Krabill will teach courses such as Introduction to Communication alongside Hufford and Anna Groff, associate professor of communication. Hufford said he wants to give Krabill the freedom to transform the courses he is teaching in order to fully implement his expertise: “That’s what all of our curriculum is in this department because things are constantly changing.”

After being the general manager for over two decades, Samuel claims to be “at peace” with the decision to distribute his responsibilities to Krabill. “I haven’t regretted it at all. In fact, I have been seeing signposts that are saying, ‘Hey, you’re headed in the right direction. This is our destination, it’s straight ahead,’” Samuel said. 

Samuel also believes that Krabill has the work ethic needed to lead a non-commercial radio station. “The Globe is hard. It’s hard work if you really care about it, and you’ve got to have a certain mentality. Tony’s got that,” he said. 

Despite the fact that Stoltzfus and Samuel will maintain offices at GC, Hufford believes that next year, the department will have a new look. “We’re gaining new people, and at the same time, we’re retaining that institutional knowledge with Jason and Duane,” Hufford said. “If there’s ever a question or anything, they’re right there, so I think it’s all addition and not subtraction.”

Krabill will begin his role in the communication department on July 1.