Veteran Detroit broadcaster Huel Perkins reflects on career, vital role of media

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Huel Perkins has left an imprint on Detroit.

Across more than three decades, the broadcasting icon’s work at Fox 2 Detroit helped us understand what was happening in the city and beyond.

He covered six presidential elections, the 2008 recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic. His interviews with newsmakers and agents of change weaved together vital threads of history and culture, from Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela to Pope John Paul II.

Before landing in Detroit, Perkins grew up in the segregated South in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His parents, who were among the first African American graduates of Louisiana State University, helped to shape his drive to break barriers and his commitment to social justice and equity.

He retired after more than three decades as a broadcaster in 2022, but he continues to be a mentor and leader in metro Detroit.

Perkins joined The Metro on Thursday during WDET’s Spring Fundraiser to reflect on his long career, which he attributes to his parents, the “true heroes” of his life. He also sounded the alarm about the importance of supporting local, independent news sources like WDET, especially as some of America’s most powerful politicians attack freedom of the press and free speech.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

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Authors

Lauren Myers

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Robyn Vincent
Robyn Vincent is the co-host of The Metro on WDET. She is an award-winning journalist, a lifelong listener of WDET, and a graduate of Wayne State University, where she studied journalism. Before returning home to Detroit, she was a reporter, producer, editor, and executive producer for NPR stations in the Mountain West, including her favorite Western station, KUNC. She received a national fellowship from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigative work that probed the unchecked power of sheriffs in Colorado. She was also the editor-in-chief of an alternative weekly newspaper in Wyoming, leading the paper to win its first national award for a series she directed tracing one reporter’s experience living and working with Syrian refugees.
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David Leins
David Leins is the senior producer of WDET’s daily news and culture program, The Metro. He has produced several award-winning podcasts and multimedia series at WDET including Tracked and Traced, Science of Grief and COVID Diaries, which earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation. He previously led WDET’s StoryMakers program. David has an M.A. in Media Arts and Studies from Wayne State University, and a B.A. in anthropology from Grand Valley State University with a minor in Arabic. David teaches podcasting at Wayne State University and is an alumnus of the Transom Audio Storytelling Workshop.
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The Metro

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