Flo Wineriter

Philosophy to rock and roll and Hiroshima to Barbados exemplify the broad interests and experience of Flo Wineriter. With his deep, resonant voice, Flo developed an interest in broadcasting at Granite High School, doing odd jobs and a little announcing in the evenings at a local radio station. But after graduation in 1943, during World War II, he enlisted with the Airforce as a cadet, trained at Texas A&M, Kelly Field in San Antonio, and Lowry Field in Denver, and was discharged in 1946.

While at Henniger's Business School, he worked part-time at KDYL, and after completing Henniger's was hired as an announcer and copywriter. He moved on as a disk jockey in Ogden where he sang with a western band, did a stint in Colorado and California, and finally returned to Salt Lake to work for KALL, where he also became a disk jockey for rock and roll at its very beginning in the mid-50's. With his notoriety, he ran for and won a seat in the state legislature in 1956. Because of an intervening divorce, which in those days could wreck a political career, he moved back into journalism, building a career as a political broadcaster covering the state legislature and city hall. In 1968, KSL hired him as a political specialist and immediately sent him to cover the celebrated Democratic Convention in Chicago featuring the Chicago 7, as well as the Republican Convention in Miami. He retired in 1986 after 18 years at KSL as a newscaster and political analyst.

He has been active in civic and social organizations, including the Mental Health Board, the Juvenile Court Advisory Committee, the Salt Lake Planning and Zoning Commission, the first Utah Hospice program, the Ethics Committee at St. Mark's Hospital and the IHC Home Health Care, the Utah Lion's Club, and, most importantly, as a founder and president of Humanists of Utah. Flo completed the three-year Humanist Institute in New York City, becoming certified as a humanist counselor with authority to preside over marriages, funerals, and other such events. One of his main interests since retiring is studying history, philosophy, politics, and religion, reading at least one book a week in these areas. He also enjoys golf, bridge, bowling, and traveling. His favorite island in the Caribbean is Barbados, and he remembers a poignant visit to the rebuilt Hiroshima.

He came to humanism via the LDS church, becoming disillusioned with it intellectually in his twenties, when he became an active Unitarian. Now, having assembled and catalogued a significant humanist library, his dream is to build a Humanist Center and donate his library to it.

Flo and his wife Connie receive a renewed zest for life from the daily sharing of their lives with their six-year-old granddaughter, Meghan (pictured with Flo).

--Earl Wunderli