Jennifer Napier-Pearce, who since 2013 has hosted The Salt Lake Tribune/KCPW program Behind the Headlines, is moving to the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute as their new Associate Director of Communications. An award-winning multimedia journalist who has been a fixture in the local media environment for years, Jennifer conceived of and launched Behind the Headlines nearly three years ago, leading the program as its host. She has also organized and moderated many of the debates and live forums heard on KCPW’s airwaves over the years. We congratulate Jennifer on joining the Hinckley Institute and look forward to working with her as she transitions into her new role.
“It’s been a privilege to work with Jen on this and other collaborations,” said KCPW General Manager Lauren Colucci. “Over the years, she’s found innovative ways to create thoughtful conversations, build stronger ties between journalism and the public it serves, and help foster civic engagement. She has a studio full of fans here and will be missed.”
Beginning next Friday, long-time KCPW host and producer Roger McDonough will take the reins of Behind the Headlines. McDonough brings a strong background in community journalism and is no stranger to the live broadcast environment, having served in the past as fill-in host for Behind the Headlines.
“Our team at The Tribune is excited to work with Roger and continue our partnership with KCPW, a collaboration we value very much,” said Salt Lake Tribune Editor Terry Orme, who penned a farewell to Napier-Pearce in a column on Saturday.
“Jennifer’s built an exceptional program here and we’ve been extremely fortunate to have her – and the Tribune’s talented reporting staff – on our airwaves,” said McDonough. “Needless to say, these are big shoes to fill and I’m honored to be involved.”
Behind the Headlines is a live, weekly, news wrap-up featuring reporters from The Salt Lake Tribune. The show examines the week’s top local stories through the eyes of a rotating panel of the state’s top journalists – including columnist Paul Rolly, investigative reporter Matt Canham, senior government reporter Robert Gehrke, religion reporter Peggy Fletcher Stack and others.
Listeners can join the discussion by sending questions to #TribTalk on Twitter, commenting on sltrib.com or calling (801) 355-TALK. Behind the Headlines airs Fridays from 9-10 a.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. on KCPW. Streaming audio is available on both www.kcpw.org and www.sltrib.com, and a full archive of the show’s podcasts can be found here. Since August 2015, the program is also broadcast across the state on Utah Public Radio.
Roger McDonough was born and raised in Salt Lake City. A practiced freelance print and radio journalist, Roger first joined KCPW’s news team in 2013 to cover the Utah State Legislature. Over the years, he’s worked as a reporter and hosted KCPW’s daily, local, news program, The Rundown, before switching gears to become a public radio producer and morning news host. He previously contributed to KCPW with an award-winning local history segment that was developed in partnership with the Salt Lake City Public Library, where he worked for nine years. Roger holds a masters degree from Georgetown University, a parallel degree from the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina), and a B.A. in English from the University of Utah.
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