Longtime radio host and podcaster Jenn White has been selected as the next host of 1A, the nationally syndicated weekday talk show from NPR and WAMU 88.5. She will replace 1A’s founding host Joshua Johnson, who departed in December for a role at MSNBC.
Her first day will be July 6.
White and her husband will move to Washington from Chicago, where she is currently the host of WBEZ’s midday talk program Reset. She also hosted the station’s well-received podcasts Making Oprah and Making Obama, as well as a podcast about the shooting death of 17-year-old Chicagoan Laquan McDonald, 16 Shots.
White became hooked on public radio as a 16-year-old in Detroit when her sister—one of her six siblings—introduced her to Car Talk. Years later, on her first day hosting All Things Considered for Michigan Radio, she got a taste of the realities of live radio when the audio system crashed just before a newscast.
“That’s part of the joy and the fun of this work,” she says. “It’s always an adventure.”
White’s high-profile appointment comes during a period of financial turmoil for WAMU, NPR and the entire public media system.
WAMU is facing a $2-3 million revenue drop in the current fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdown. WAMU’s General Manager JJ Yore expects the station will bring in about 20% less revenue than projected for the next fiscal year, which starts in July. Most of the losses stem from declines in corporate sponsorships.
Still, Yore says, finding a permanent host for its flagship show was a priority, even as the station’s leadership team faces salary cuts and some non-content employees are likely to lose their jobs.
“We’re trying to be very strategic about the hires,” Yore says. “We are making cuts and investments designed to bring us out stronger on the other side of this.”
More than 375 public radio stations around the country have signed deals with NPR to carry 1A. NPR contributes a percentage of that revenue to WAMU.
Yore says the station still puts more money into producing 1A than it earns back from distribution deals. Over time, however, nationally syndicated midday shows can become major revenue generators and reputation builders for stations. “This 10-to-noon real estate in public radio is extraordinarily valuable,” Diane Rehm, whose Diane Rehm Show was 1A’s predecessor, told the public media podcast The Pub shortly before 1A launched.
WAMU and NPR launched 1A in January 2017 after The Diane Rehm Show ended its much-lauded 37-year run. Like its predecessor, 1A covers a wide breadth of topics ranging from of-the-minute political news to discussions of pop culture.
Johnson’s departure “speaks for itself,” Yore says. “He became in demand by all kinds of media companies because he is such a smart, thoughtful, powerful presence.”
In its search for a new host, Yore says the committee paid particular attention to candidates’ ability to exude warmth and empathy.
“Joshua [Johnson] was immensely talented,” Yore says. “But some of the feedback that we got was that he didn’t always exhibit strong listening qualities, and he didn’t have as much natural warmth as we might have wanted.” Yore says White’s confidence and her research skills made her stand out in the field of finalists.
“She’s authoritative, and you can tell you’re in the hands of someone who’s a real journalist,” Yore says.
Temporary hosts have been filling in since Johnson’s departure last year, including 1A national reporter Sasha-Ann Simons, NPR national correspondent Sarah McCammon, journalist Celeste Headlee, and Todd Zwillich, who is now the deputy D.C. bureau chief for Vice News.
Stepping into the host seat for a preexisting show is “a little bit like being a second wife,” says longtime radio consultant Valerie Geller. “You’re moving into the house where the old wife lived.”
Geller says she hopes the station and 1A listeners will give White the space to create her own distinct relationship with the audience. “The new host needs to have every opportunity to make it their own,” Geller says.
Executive producer Rupert Allman says listeners should expect to hear more segments that reflect White’s personal interests, such as science fiction and food. (White self-identifies as a blerd.)
“There’s a breadth to her experience that really stands out,” Allman says. “And as we grow our own relationship with Jenn, we’ll make adjustments as we go along.”
White says she wants to bring more voices of “real people” to the program: “People who are living the policy, living the law, living the reality of this America.” She also says she’ll be doing “a lot of listening” over the next few months to prepare for the new challenge of guiding national conversations about the 2020 elections and the global coronavirus pandemic.
Once she gets in the host chair, she says she’s going to do everything she can to keep the show’s spotlight on the listeners, not on her. “I want to build a strong foundation that someone else could step into one day,” she says.
Members of the station’s leadership are crossing their fingers that “one day” is a long way away.
“What I hope is that Jenn White will come to 1A, that she will be really successful, that she will love the role, and that she will stay for a long time,” Yore says.
This story originally appeared on WAMU. WAMU’s executives were not allowed to review what was reported for this story before it was published. This follows the station’s policy on how to cover itself when it makes news.
