Reese Erlich
Reese Erlich

Most of these online biographies are deadly boring recitations of all the wonderful shows on which the reporter has appeared, followed by some self-serving mention of awards received. This bio is no exception.

I stumbled into the wonderful world of radio journalism without premeditation. I had been attending the University of California at Berkeley in 1967 when I was suspended for organizing anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. I found part-time work as a late-night typist at Ramparts, then the country's premiere investigative reporting magazine. They promoted me to reporter so I could learn journalism the old fashioned way—by making lots of mistakes and getting yelled at. Eventually I learned how to write journalistically.

By 1986 I had been freelancing for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, which had recently formed a radio network. The very patient producers at Monitor Radio trained me as a radio reporter. I later learned television journalism the same way, by on-the-job training.

Despite never having taken a class in journalism—and a vow by administrators at UC Berkeley never to allow me back on campus—I eventually taught journalism at UC Berkeley Extension, San Francisco State University, and California State University at Hayward.

These days I work full time as a freelance print and broadcast journalist. I'm a contract correspondent for Common Ground, trying to bring you interesting international stories before they hit the headlines in other media.

Boring Stuff

As promised, here comes the typical, boring bio information. Notice how everything is cleverly written in the third person in order to make the reporter look more important.

Reese Erlich reports regularly for National Public Radio, Marketplace Radio, Latino USA, Radio Deutche Welle, Australian Broadcasting Corp. Radio, and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio. (Don't forget that he also writes for San Francisco Chronicle, St. Petersburg Times, and Christian Science Monitor.)

Erlich has been a media critic for San Francisco's KQED-FM (NPR affiliate) since 1988.

His "Perspectives on Jazz" series airs on sixteen public radio stations in the United States and Canada. These three- to four-minute profiles of jazz artists also appear online through the San Jose Mercury News.

Erlich has won numerous journalism awards, including the 1996 Chicago International Film Festival's Silver Hugo for investigative reporting and first and second place in the Media Alliance's 1993 "Project Bay Area Censored" competition. For the year 2000, he received a major grant from the California Council for the Humanities to produce radio documentaries on California jazz and blues. Erlich is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the Media.

© 2001 by The Stanley Foundation
Home | Contact Us | Credits | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use