A large crowd gathered at WYMT on Nov. 22 to celebrate the career of station General Manager Neil Middleton, who has retired after nearly four decades with the station.
Neil Middleton, the general manager of WYMT since 2012 and a key figure in Eastern Kentucky broadcasting for nearly four decades, retired after his last newscast Nov. 22, which was followed by an emotional gathering attended by current and former WYMT employees.
During his final broadcast, Middleton expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to serve Eastern Kentucky and reflected on his journey with the station.
“My season here at WYMT has come to an end,” said Middleton. “It’s been my privilege and honor to serve you and these mountains that I love so dearly. During the last four decades, I’ve met so many wonderful people. I’ve made lifelong friends, inside and outside these walls. I met many of you on the best day, or the worst day of your lives. We prayed together, we cried tears of anguish, and we’ve cried tears of joy.”
Middleton spoke of the resilience and strength of the Appalachian community, a theme that shaped much of his career at WYMT.
“This journey has allowed me to share your inspirational stories of hope and survival,” he said. “You have inspired me. You have also inspired countless young reporters who moved to Eastern Kentucky for their very first jobs. They moved here knowing very little about our region or our culture, but they quickly fell in love with these mountains and their people. Throughout the decades we’ve seen the good times and we’ve seen some unimaginable hard times. We know that more hard times are on the way. Each time we support one another with a helping hand, with love and compassion, because it is an Appalachian tradition—neighbors helping neighbors. We do it because that’s what we mountain folk do.”
After the broadcast, Middleton spoke to his team emphasizing that the work done at WYMT was always a team effort, thanking his colleagues and the community.
“It’s because of you,” he said. “Everything that this station does is because of everybody out there and everything that I have achieved is because of you. We do it together. It’s not me, it’s you all. Every one of you. That’s what makes this place so special.”
He went on to express his belief in the purpose of journalism being servitude, especially in a region like Eastern Kentucky.
“The only reason we are here is to serve others,” Middleton said. “That’s it. There is no other reason to do this job than to be a servant.”
Middleton began his broadcasting career in 1987 after working in radio, starting at WFSR while still in high school and later moving to WHLN in Harlan. He joined WYMT that same year, following in the footsteps of Tony Turner.
“It was January in 1987, I believe,” Middleton said. “I started in radio in high school. I started working at WFSR when I was in high school and did that all through college and after college. Then some circumstances led to me working at WHLN in Harlan, and I was there about seven months, and then I followed Tony Turner here.”
Middleton admitted that he initially didn’t envision himself in television.
“When I was in college, radio was going to be my career,” he said.”I went to school for journalism to work for a newspaper. That was going to be my backup. Five years after I was out of school, I ended up in TV, and the rest is history.”
Middleton started as a reporter covering the Cumberland Valley Bureau and eventually became the assistant news director and 6 p.m. producer. After a brief stint at WVLT in Knoxville, he returned to WYMT in 2002 to become news director, later moving up to general manager in 2012.
“I don’t know what the next step is,” he said. “But what I do know is, in whatever role I take next, whether it’s doing something like I do now or something totally different, I want to contribute and serve the community around me and continue to work to make Eastern Kentucky a better place. Even if I decide to retire, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop working for Eastern Kentucky. That will always continue.”
Middleton reflected on the values that guided his reporting and leadership.
“On the day in and day out, I’ve always tried to treat people in the stories we cover, the way I would want someone to treat my family,” Middleton said. “I’m incredibly honored and proud, humbled, by my time here. Trying to sum up my time here, it’s impossibly difficult to find the words to describe it.”
Middleton’s contributions did not go unnoticed beyond the station. On Nov. 20, U.S. Representative Hal Rogers recognized Middleton on the House floor for his commitment to journalism in Appalachia.
Steven Hensley, WYMT’s senior anchor and managing editor, also reflected on his long history with Middleton during the Nov. 22 event.
“Neil has been a mentor because he’s basically done it all at WYMT,” Hensley said. “He was a one-man-band reporter, meaning he shot, edited and wrote all of his stories. When I started full-time at WYMT in 1999, he was our 6 p.m. producer. In 2002, he came back to WYMT after a brief stint at our sister station WVLT in Knoxville and became news director after the untimely death of our news director at the time, Tony Turner, following a car crash. Tony and Neil were close friends, and they were both from Harlan County. In 2012, he became general manager after Ernestine Cornett retired. I’ve only had two general managers in more than 30 years as an intern and full-time employee. When he became general manager, and I stepped into the role of news director for ten years, his guidance was so helpful and beneficial. I’m honestly not sure I would have made it without him.”
Hensley said Middleton’s presence will be missed at WYMT.
“I know Neil is only a phone call or text away, but it will be very strange without him walking the hallways at WYMT,” he said. “He started in early 1987, so he’s been part of the station since almost the very beginning. We will miss his leadership and experience dealing with just about any problem you could imagine. Chances are, he’s dealt with it before. I must say, too, we will miss all the other employees we’ve recently lost. Some had been at the station more than 20 years. They were all valuable members of our team. But we are still ‘your mountain television,’ and we will work as hard as we can to bring you the news coverage you deserve.”
Hensley also noted the impact Middleton had on those he mentored throughout the years.
“I reached out to more than 40 former co-workers to see if they would send in a goodbye message to Neil, and almost everyone did,” he said. “I think that says more than anything. They might not have known it while they were here, but Neil was not only preparing employees, most of them right out of college, for a journalism career, he was preparing them for life. He’s the first one to admit he can be tough sometimes, but you knew he cared about you, and he certainly cared for WYMT and this region. Neil demanded excellence. We always said we were a small market but didn’t act like it. Any success we’ve had is due in large part to Neil pushing us to be better. He could get under your skin sometimes, but I think all the good journalists at WYMT and who are now at larger markets will say they owe a debt of gratitude to Neil.”
