WNYC Names Alison Stewart Host of New Weekday Afternoon Program
(New York, NY – July 23, 2018) -- WNYC today announced that Peabody Award-winning journalist and author Alison Stewart will host a new live, two-hour afternoon show on WNYC.
The new program, launching this fall, will be a weekday talk show with a fresh take on culture, the arts, the news of the day, and how we live in New York and the surrounding region. During more than two decades in journalism, Stewart has interviewed luminaries such as U2 frontman Bono, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Bishop Michael Curry, and Norman Lear. For the show, she will bring her interviewing skills to conversations with newsmakers, tastemakers, artists, and creators. The show will have Stewart taking calls, going out into the city, and collaborating with WNYC journalists and hosts on creative new segments. Broadcast live from 12 noon – 2pm, the show will be available for streaming and podcast as well.
“Alison Stewart is the perfect host for our new midday show that will lead the New York conversation,” said Laura Walker, President and CEO, New York Public Radio, which includes WNYC. “She is intelligent, lively and experienced, and has her finger on the pulse of pop culture, the arts, and news in a way that is deeply of the moment. With Alison, WNYC listeners will get the high quality, inclusive, cultural conversation they expect. I’m absolutely thrilled to have her join our line-up!”
“I'm so excited to engage with the WNYC community,” said Stewart. “My hope is we can explore how culture shapes us as people and citizens. What's happening on Broadway and in Bushwick, what's happening in houses of worship and fashion houses, and that fantastically weird performance artist you saw on the F train all contribute to the magic of New York City.”
Since beginning her career as a producer/reporter for MTV News’ breakthrough presidential campaign coverage “Choose or Lose”-- which earned her a Peabody Award -- Stewart has spent over two decades reporting for all the major national news networks. She has anchored her own groundbreaking and successful news programs on NPR, PBS, ABC and MSNBC, and reported from the floor of six presidential conventions, the Olympics, and the World Trade Center on 9/11. Her audio experience includes serving as host of NPR’s experimental digital news program Bryant Park Project and hosting the first season of TED Radio Hour. Currently, she is a contributing editor with The Atlantic LIVE and a contributor to PBS NewsHour.
Stewart is a graduate of Brown University and the author of First Class:The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School, named one of the best books of 2013 by Essence and Mother Jones magazine, and JUNK: Digging Through America’s Love Affair With Stuff.
About New York Public Radio
With an urban vibrancy and a global perspective, New York Public Radio produces innovative public radio programs, podcasts, and live events that touch a passionate community of over 25 million people monthly on air, online and in person. From its state-of-the-art studios in New York City, NYPR is reshaping radio for a new generation of listeners with groundbreaking, award-winning programs including Radiolab, On the Media, and Carnegie Hall Live, among many others. New York Public Radio includes WNYC, WQXR, WNYC Studios, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and New Jersey Public Radio. Further information about programs, podcasts, and stations may be found at www.nypublicradio.org.
