WNYC Names New Hosts to Morning Edition and All Things Considered
Today, WNYC names two hosts to flagship news programs: Michael Hill will be the new host of “Morning Edition,” and Sean Carlson has been promoted to host of “All Things Considered.”
Read more in this note from WNYC’s Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper:
I’m excited to announce that after a thoughtful search, we have found the next hosts for our flagship news programs: Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Michael Hill, an award-winning journalist and New Jersey native, will be the new voice of Morning Edition. Michael comes to us from New Jersey’s PBS station, NJTV/NJ Spotlight News, where he has worked as anchor, correspondent and multimedia journalist since 2014. He is also a fill-in host for PBS NewsHour Weekend and the host of Newark Today, a civic affairs show that airs on the legendary jazz station, WBGO. Before that, Michael hosted and reported the news in New Orleans, Dallas-Fort Worth, Baltimore and New York.
Michael was a 2018 National Fellow of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and produced a five-part series, “Trauma’s Tragedy and Treatment.” That year, he also received the Radio Public Affairs Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists for a broadcast featuring Newark’s four living elected mayors.
Michael is a consummate professional and prides himself in being a team player — on occasion, he has acted as videographer for colleagues’ newsgathering. But my favorite part of Michael’s bio is the line that states: “Hill feels the truth is worth the pursuit.”
He will officially start on Monday, Feb. 8, and he’ll make his Morning Edition debut a few weeks later. As host, Michael will preside over New York City’s most listened-to morning drive radio show, and the daypart with WNYC’s largest audience. It’s a critical role, and I’m excited to introduce Michael to you and our listeners.
The new host of All Things Considered is someone you already know. Sean Carlson will take a permanent seat in the chair, which he has been helping to keep warm since Jami Floyd vacated it to launch and lead the new Race & Justice unit last fall. Since arriving at WNYC in 2015, Sean has been something of a Swiss Army knife of hosts: He has worked evenings, weekends, on the magazine shows, and as a fill-in on The Takeaway.
When WNYC moved most of its broadcast operations offsite last March due to the pandemic, Sean was one of a handful of staffers who stayed nearby, living in a hotel room with his cat and being on call nearly 24 hours a day to ensure the station could remain on the air. In an unthinkable crisis, we relied on Sean to bring our listeners the news and information they needed, always with his engaging, calm style. He was also part of a team that helped to cover Morning Edition in the wake of Richard Hake’s death.
His promotion is effective immediately.
Prior to joining WNYC, Sean worked as a host at WDDE in Dover, Delaware, and as a host and reporter at KRBD in Ketchikan, Alaska. Sean is also a New Jersey native, although he now lives in Brooklyn.
It took us a long time to get to these important choices. We must recognize the tremendous efforts of our other colleagues — Kerry Nolan, Lance Luckey, Rebeca Ibarra, Julianne Welby, Yasmeen Khan, and Miyan Levenson — who stepped up to host during these extraordinary times.
Most especially, I want to give special recognition to David Furst, who has been a regular host of Morning Edition for several months. He is an incomparable and unflappable colleague, and we could not have gotten through this period without his help. He deserves and has our deepest appreciation.
Please join me in thanking all the people who helped in this process and in congratulating Michael and Sean on their new jobs.
Sincerely,
Audrey