Patty Loew, Ojibwe journalist, inducted into Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame

Patty Loew, 72, recently inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame, has left an indelible mark in the field of journalism.

But she had no idea this was her calling until well into her college career. She did, after all, change her major seven times at UW-La Crosse.

“Then I took a journalism class and I just loved it,” Loew said.

Her first gig was supposed to be as a general assignment reporter for a small radio station in La Crosse.

But the station’s premier farm reporter had to leave because of a health issue, and Loew was asked to fill their shoes even though she knew nothing about agriculture.

“I grew up in a housing project on the north side of Milwaukee,” she said. “I was so unprepared.”

Loew learned on the job and soon became fascinated with all things farming.

“I’m still interested in agricultural issues, especially food sovereignty as it relates to Indigenous communities,” she said.

Loew is a member of the Bad River Ojibwe Nation, located within what is now known as Wisconsin. The Ojibwe bands of northern Wisconsin have been fighting to maintain their treaty rights, especially to hunt and fish in former Ojibwe territory that was taken by the U.S.

Not long after her radio station job, Loew moved to Madison for a TV news broadcasting job where she became the first female solo news anchor in the city.

A little later, ABC offered to pay for her tuition as she earned her doctorate degree while also doing news broadcasts.

Later in her career, she transitioned to PBS, hosting news broadcasts and other programming.

Loew also wrote and produced the hour-long documentary “Way of the Warrior,” which airs nationally on PBS. It is about how Indigenous communities traditionally viewed their warriors and why Indigenous peoples serve in the military at among the highest rates of any groups.

'I'm really bad at retiring'

Loew “retired” from broadcasting in 2016.

“But it turns out I’m really bad at retiring,” she said.

Loew was then asked to teach journalism as a professor at the prestigious Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

She said the university was in “serious atonement mode” at the time she was hired after it had come to light that its founder, John Evans, was involved in a massacre of about 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people on Nov. 29, 1864. It became known as the Sand Creek Massacre in the Colorado Territory.

But Loew said she loves teaching journalism to the next generation of journalists and stresses that journalism is essential for democracy.

She is a professor emeritus now, and still stays busy.

Loew just celebrated her 50th year in broadcasting by doing a voice-over for a PBS Wisconsin show a few weeks ago.

She’s also has a few writing projects in the works, including the third edition of her book, “Indian Nations of Wisconsin.”

Loew was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame on June 20 this year during a ceremony in Fond du Lac.

“They treated us like royalty,” Loew said of the ceremony and reception. “I felt like I should’ve worn a tiara and scepter.”

She joins about 160 other broadcasters who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, which was created in 1989.

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.