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KCRW's new hires. Walsh is second from the left.
KCRW's search for an executive producer for the Madeleine Brand-hosted show expected to debut next year has led to Andrew Walsh, until November the host and executive producer of a daily news analysis show on radio station KIRO in Seattle. He previously produced for New Hampshire Public Radio and Kent State University’s WKSU. The new KCRW show does not yet have an air date, at least publicly, but it now has a staff. In addition to Walsh, longtime KCRW producer Matt Holzman, co-creator of "The Business" — the guy who calls to inform lucky donors they have won a trip at fund drive time — will be a producer on the show. He joins KCRW's own Christian Bordal and Anna Scott, producers on "Which Way, L.A.?" and "To the Point." The station has also hired Jolie Myers, most recently an associate producer on the "Marketplace" wealth and poverty desk, for the Brand show.
Brand, you may remember, left KPCC in Sept. 2012 after management gave her morning show a co-host in A Martinez. She began to guest-host on occasion at KCRW, and this past July general manager Jennifer Ferro informed the staff that Brand would be hosting a mid-day show, the first news program added to the KCRW schedule since "To the Point" in 2001.
The move of Bordal and Scott from the current Warren Olney-hosted KCRW news programs means some hiring there as well. Jenny Hamel and Ben Gottlieb are joining KCRW as producers of "Which Way, L.A.?" and "To the Point." Hamel has been a general assignment reporter for San Diego’s FOX 5 and 6 CW. Gottlieb has been an associate producer for HuffPo Live and KCET's "SoCal Connected." Both of the new producers are Emmy winners.
"Talented producers are at the heart of what we do everyday at KCRW," program director Gary Scott says in the flackage. "By creating original programs that cover the arts, culture, politics and technology, we strive to give our listeners a better understanding of their world. We're also preparing to launch our first daily program since 2001 with Madeleine Brand, and that means building a top-notch team."
