Award-Winning Journalist Jill McDermott Joins Explore Staff

| November 7, 2019

8x10_1D4A6045 copy_PPM_1200CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Award-winning journalist Jill McDermott, a Clarion County native, has joined the staff of Explore Your Town, Inc.

(Photo by Dave Cyphert of ProPoint Media Photography.)

Jill has written a short bio to re-introduce herself to the community.

Hello Clarion!

I feel incredibly blessed to be back in my hometown after 34 years away. I have never really thought of anywhere else as “home.”

I am a 1980 graduate of Clarion-Limestone High School and a 1984 graduate of IUP with a degree in Communications/Media.

I began covering news in DuBois for what was then WCED and WOWQ. I then spent a year and a half in State College at what was then WMAJ and WXLR. My next jump took me to Florida where I reported news for WQCS for 32 years.

My career highlight was an opportunity to accompany 100 WWII Veterans on an Honor Flight to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. The series of radio stories I produced from that trip earned me a regional Edward R. Murrow award. However, on that Honor Flight, I met men and women who had such incredible stories and memories and the Honor Flight organizers provided such pomp and circumstance that I feel that any reporter who didn’t produce an award-winning story isn’t very good at what they do.

I have also won dozens of awards from the Associated Press and other organizations. Again, these awards come from telling stories from the community; the people covered in those stories are the true award winners.

My career has provided me the opportunity to fly the skies in a B-17 aircraft and dive below the ocean on a tourist submarine and get paid for it!

I have also covered the toxic algae invading Florida shores and a series of hurricanes that hit the Florida east coast, most notably in 2004 when we experienced two hurricanes in a three-week period.

When I retired from WQCS, I decided it was time to return home. My dog, Rocky, and I have been enjoying long walks in Clarion and Cook Forest. Rocky has yet to see snow, so we will see how that goes.

I look forward to telling the stories of my hometown community.

~Jill

Jill McDermott
EYT Media Reporter

About Explore Your Town, Inc.

Explore Your Town, Inc., established in 2010, is a fast-growing media company based in Clarion, Pa. The company operates a network of hyperlocal news and information websites in Western Pennsylvania, including www.exploreClarion.comwww.exploreJeffersonPA.comwww.exploreVenango.com, D9Sports.com and CookForest.com. The network of sites attracts over 1,000,000 users per month. The company also runs the EYT Radio Network, an online radio station that broadcasts various local shows and sports programming.


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Category: Local News, News