The State of Things, WUNC’s daily live radio program, announced this morning that host Frank Stasio will retire at the end of the year.
The State of Things has been broacasting since 1999. The hour-long show airs weekdays at noon and covers topics central to the politics, personality, and cultural life of the state.
“Frank has been a valuable part of the WUNC portfolio of hosts and his articulateness and intellectual capacity will be missed,” WUNC president and general manager Connie Walker told the INDY. “He’s highlighted numerous issues of interest to North Carolinians over the years. To have a host of NPR caliber at WUNC has provided us a wonderful resource to serve our audience.”
Stasio, known for his warm, genial interview style, has hosted the program since June 2006 and has been working in radio since he was 19. Before coming to Durham, he worked at WOI in Ames, Iowa, serving as the magazine show anchor and the station’s news director. He also worked as an associate producer at All Things Considered before leaving that post and public radio to start an alternative school in Washington, D.C.
“Frank’s background includes many years of not only doing newscasts at NPR but also hosting talk show special coverage,” Walker says. “He has the ability to make a very hard job look easy, have an in-depth conversation while watching the clock.”
Anita Rao, managing editor at The State of Things, has been hosting the show in Stasio’s stead frequently, the past year, in addition to hosting Embodied, a new WUNC podcast about sex and relationships. The station says it expects to conduct a national search for Stasio’s successor.
“I’m proud of what we built on The State Of Things,” Stasio wrote in a Tuesday morning note to staff. “We made some powerfully good radio &, by most accounts, had a profound effect on our community. I’m grateful to all of you and our amazing listeners for helping to make this happen.”
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