WUOT Staff

Cindy Hassil

Cindy Hassil left one PR – public relations – and went to back to another – public radio – when she joined WUOT as coordinator of underwriting sales July 1, 2004, following four years as an account executive at one of Knoxville’s top PR and communications firms, Moxley Carmichael.

Cindy’s first experience with public radio was in grad school, when she served as the assistant development director, then development director at UT’s other noncommercial station, WUTK 90.3 FM, then known as New Rock 90. Now WUOT’s director of corporate and community relations, Cindy oversees a department that handles the station’s membership, underwriting, marketing and promotions.

Cindy has a master's degree in communications from UT and a bachelor of fine arts degree in history of art from The Ohio State University. She has served on the board of the Arts Council of Oak Ridge and has been a volunteer at the Knoxville Zoo. Cindy was a longtime member and the 2004 hospitality chair for the Public Relations Society of America-Volunteer Chapter. She also served as the 2005 vice president of programs for the Knoxville Chapter of the American Marketing Association and was recognized as the organization's Volunteer of the Year. Cindy served on the committee for the YWCA-Knoxville’s 2007 Tribute to Women and was named the organization’s 2008 Volunteer of the Year for her contributions, which included writing and directing two videos.

Cindy’s favorite programs on WUOT are Improvisations; JazzSet; All Things Considered, and This American Life, and she says that meeting and gushing over Ira Glass (In person! Right next to me! Ohmygosh!), while not her prettiest moment, is one of the highlights of her career in public radio. Her favorite "driveway moment" wasn’t actually in the driveway – she was held captive in the WUOT kitchen during the "Flaming Hot Cheetos" segment on a May 2006 All Things Considered broadcast. The staff tried Flaming Hot Cheetos the next day. No one (to our knowledge) has become addicted.