Jeff Sutker, third from left, River Region News faculty news director, works with students while filming a newscast in WSIU-TV studios as other students (bottom photo) work in the studio control room. (Photos by Russell Bailey)
October 07, 2026
Student-run River Region News returns to SIU Carbondale
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The River Region News has returned!
The Southern Illinois University Carbondale student-run newscast is back after nearly six years on hiatus, bringing campus and regional news in a digital-first format to viewers on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube platforms.
The relaunched newscast debuted Sept. 4, reviving an award-winning news program that aired for decades on WSIU-TV before going off air during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program’s honors include awards from the Broadcast Education Association, Illinois News Broadcasters Association and College Emmy Awards.
Jan Thompson, director of the Charlotte Thompson Suhler School of Journalism, said the relaunch helps fulfill the school’s curriculum. “It is expected that journalism students have strong multimedia skills in today’s industry.”
With that in mind, Thompson set out to hire a faculty member with extensive broadcast experience. Enter Jeff Sutker, an SIU alumnus who was part of an earlier version of the newscast as a student. His career started at WSIL-TV in Southern Illinois, where he worked as a photographer, reporter, producer and anchor. He moved to CNN in the early years of 24-hour cable news, then spent 36 years at Fox 32 News in Chicago.
Along the way, the Emmy-winning journalist covered the Bosnian War, the earthquake in Haiti and the death of Princess Diana, filmed seven U.S. presidents and worked on the Chicago Bulls’s six NBA championship runs. Now he’s back to where it all began.
Thompson said Sutker and the students have worked hard to revive the newscast. “It is exciting to see their dedication to bring back this vital news source to our region.”
Rebuilding River Region
When Sutker joined the team in August 2025, he stepped into a room filled with boxes and layers of dust. “It did not look like a newsroom,” he said.
The first goal was to create an environment similar to a traditional newsroom so students could train in the kind of setting they’ll work in after graduation. The team put up TV monitors, brought in news feeds, cleaned up the desks and added computers.
A year later, the room is an active student-run operation. Along with learning to report, students helped build a newscast from the ground up.
Sutker said the students who participated in the relaunch have learned to think critically in ways that go beyond working in an established newsroom.
Broadcasts provide opportunities
For Eli Hoover, a first-year graduate student in professional media and media management studies, that meant creating a way for River Region students to call games.
Hoover has wanted to work in sports broadcasting since he was 8 years old. After coming to SIU in 2020, he asked Saluki Athletics for a chance to call games so often that, he said, the director was “probably tired of me.” By that spring, he was calling his first softball game and went on to call baseball, softball and volleyball for SIU. He has also worked on multiple ESPN+ broadcasts.
With support from Thompson and Sutker, he reached out to the athletic department to create an opportunity within River Region News. Starting this fall, students will call SIU women’s basketball home games from the scorer’s table, providing play-by-play and color commentary on the newscast’s social channels.
Interest is already building. Hoover said multiple students have told him sports broadcasting is something they want to do. Whether or not they “pick up a microphone after they leave here,” he said, he wants them to have the chance to find out.
Will Elliott, a junior double-majoring in both journalism and radio, television and digital media studies, knows what it’s like to want that chance. As a freshman, he edited the Daily Egyptian’s sports podcast in the room that now houses the newscast. He said he would sit there and think, “I want to be a broadcaster, but there is nothing for me.”
Now he’s helping build what he once wished SIU had. He said seeing where the newscast is now is proof that you get what you put in. “The harder you work, the more that this university gives back to you.”
That work is paying off. River Region News now produces a weekly newscast, and about 15 students can walk in, grab equipment and head out to report — up from three or four a year ago. Students have covered stories across Southern Illinois, and returning students are now training newcomers.
The road ahead
The team is still pushing further. Sutker said the goal is to build back toward the level the newscast once reached, but in a more modern model, running as close to a 24/7 news operation as possible. “We want to be anywhere and everywhere, all the time.”
The next step is the newscast’s first live broadcast. On election night, Nov. 3, River Region News will partner with the Daily Egyptian to cover the races from a classroom they are converting into a new studio. Plans include a political expert on set and live reporters in the field.
Sutker said the team will keep building from there. “There’s never really a top to the mountain. You’re always continuing to build.”
River Region News is available on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
