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2015 marked Year 33 for Jim Leightenheimer ’80, warmly known as
“Mr. L” by graduates of Cedarville’s broadcasting and digital media program.
Leightenheimer, Associate Professor of Communications,
has taught, mentored, coached, encouraged, helped, served,
and pushed out of the nest hundreds of graduates, including
Joy McBride ’11, afternoon show host for the entire WAY-FM
network (see her story on page 20); Rudy Haerr ’05, Mastering
Engineer for Focus on the Family’s
Adventures in Odyssey
and Focus on the Family Theatre; Paula (Faris) Krueger ’97,
Weekend News Anchor for ABC’s
GoodMorning America
; and
Jim Houser ’91, Managing Partner at the Music Division of
Creative Trust and Talent Agent for Steven Curtis Chapman.
All of them have this in common: Jim Leightenheimer was
not only a major influence on their professional development,
but also on doing their job for the glory of Christ.
“Our job as audio engineers is to be transparent to the
listeners,” noted Haerr. “If we’re doing our jobs well, their
attention is on the message. That’s how Jim lives. He may not
be the one teaching about God to the masses, but he’s faithfully
served those who do and faithfully equipped his students who
support the work of the messengers.
“I can’t think of the help that he provided without being
thankful to God for providing the right man in my life to
accomplish what God wanted.”
Cedarville Through and Through
Leightenheimer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
broadcasting and speech in 1980 and found a job as afternoon
show host and Public Affairs Director at Dayton-basedWFCJ,
93.7 FM. “I was there for two years and four months, and then
came back to work with my teacher and mentor, Wes Baker
[Distinguished Professor of Communications],” he explained.
Although Leightenheimer seemingly left the radio
broadcasting field, he never really left it. “The University had
by Clem Boyd
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Cedarville Magazine