UC Berkeley Journalism - Program - Radio Reporting Faculty

Radio Faculty and Lecturers

Faculty

William Drummond (Professor)
William J. Drummond’s career includes stints at The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, where he covered the civil rights movement, and the Los Angeles Times, where he was a local reporter, then bureau chief in New Delhi and Jerusalem and later a Washington correspondent. Drummond was appointed a White House Fellow in 1976 by Gerald R. Ford, worked briefly for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and eventually became associate press secretary to President Jimmy Carter. In 1977 he joined NPR and became the founding editor of “Morning Edition.” Drummond has been honored with a National Press Club Foundation Award, the Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for Journalism Excellence, and the Award for Outstanding Coverage of the Black Condition from the National Association of Black Journalists. His research interest lies in incorporating stress-reduction techniques into journalism education. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
More about Drummond

Lecturers

David Charron (Lecturer)
Charron has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford and his MBA from Haas. He joined the faculty in 2003 after having served as CEO of 6Gear Inc. and Osner Inc. Charron has also consulted for various startups, serves as Executive Director of the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory and is a Mentor to the Global Social Venture Competition at Haas. Charron teaches several courses at Haas including, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Entrepreneurship Workshop for Start-Ups Life as an Entrepreneur, Business Model Innovation for New Ventures.
More about Charron

Terisa Estacio (Lecturer)
Terisa started working with KRON in 2001. A veteran of the news business, Terisa's experience spans much of the nation. She previously worked as a correspondent for CBS's Newspath traveling the nation to all breaking news events. Terisa has covered numerous high-profile court cases including the trial of the men accused of beating and killing Matthew Shepard's because he was gay, and the trial and execution of Timothy McVeigh. Terisa has also traveled the country covering national disasters including the country's worst floods, hurricanes, and fires. Turning to politics, Terisa worked as a White House correspondent for Tribune Broadcasting during President Clinton's first term. She was later on the scene for much of the breaking news surrounding the 2000 Presidential race between President Bush and then Candidate Al Gore. In more than two decades as a journalist, Terisa has worked for television stations in Los Angeles, Houston, Texas, Sacramento, Reno and Eureka. Now settled in the Bay Area, Terisa covers a wide range of topics for KRON-TV, with an emphasis on crime, the courts and top investigative stories of the day. Terisa was born and raised in the Bay Area and is very proud and extremely happy to be back home covering the important stories for Bay Area residents. She lives in the North Bay with her dog, Kalvin.

Sam Grant (Not Selected)
Samantha Grant is a Bay Area documentary film and radio producer. Through her production company GUSHproductions, LLC Samantha has worked with ABC, MTV, CNN, NPR, PRI, FRONTLINE/World, PBS, Al Jazeera International, and Current TV, as well as several national corporate clients like Merrill Lynch, AT&T, and Electronic Arts. Samantha’s work has received several awards including a student Emmy and a South Asian Journalists Association award for a short documentary she produced about the black market trade in Human Kidneys in India. In 2006, Samantha began work on a documentary film which is still in production about the Jayson Blair/New York Times scandal. In 2007, Sam was named a Carnegie/Knight fellow and through the News21 fellowship Sam directed a short documentary about life after Polygamy called “Now Leaving Colorado City”. When she’s not shooting, recording, producing or directing independent documentaries, you can find Sam lecturing at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and the Knight Digital Media Center.

Ben Manilla (Lecturer)
Ben Manilla is one of America's foremost audio producers. His 30-year career spans all aspects of radio. He has produced series for National Public Radio, The Disney Company, The Library of Congress, CBS, and many others. His consulting firm, Media Mechanics, created a full-time satellite channel for Starbucks, invented a new music format for public radio in Milwaukee, and is developing a new cable TV series starring Laura Dern. For fifteen years, Ben has collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on the House of Blues radio series. Together, they wrote the book, "Elwood's Blues". Ben’s work has been honored with the Major Armstrong Award, The Edward R. Murrow Award, The Music Journalism Award, The Ohio State Public Service Broadcasting Award, Billboard Magazine’s Syndicated Radio Show Award, and many more. Ben is currently working on a multi-hour TV and radio series on The History of Recorded Music with Sir George Martin. Ben has a degree in Drama from New York University.
More about Manilla

Cy Musiker (Lecturer)
Cyrus Musiker is the evening news anchor and a reporter at KQED Public Radio. During his 13 years at the station, Cyrus has also worked as Senior Editor for News and as Senior Producer for The California Report. He files, on occasion, for All Things Considered and Morning Edition on National Public Radio, and for PRI’s The World. Cyrus graduated from Hampshire College eons ago, then worked in the wine business before finding his calling as a radio news hound. Cy received a master's degree from the School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, then freelanced for years. for KPFA, NPR's Latin File, Living on Earth, Marketplace, the BBC, CBC, UPI, and "the smiling man," Charles Osgood. The Society for Professional Journalists gave Cy their Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in Journalism back in 2001.

Claire Schoen (Lecturer)
Claire Schoen has been an independent media producer for over 25 years, working on a wide variety of documentary, educational and corporate projects. As a producer/director, she has created over 20 long-format radio documentaries and numerous short audio works as well as several documentary films. As a sound designer she has recorded, edited and mixed sound for film, video, radio, museum tour and theater productions. Her radio pieces have enjoyed international as well as national distribution through venues including American Radio Works, Marketplace, Living on Earth and CBS Radio. Schoen's radio productions have garnered numerous awards for Best Documentary, including two Gracies, two Clarions and an NFCB Golden Reel. She has also shared in both a Peabody and duPont-Columbia award.

Shane Sharkey (Lecturer)
Shane Sharkey is the owner and director of Big Toe Audio, an audio production company specializing in syndicated radio production. Shane has produced radio specials and syndicated programs for music, sports and talk radio for over 13 years. His award winning work includes projects for The Oakland Raiders, KGO 810 AM, The House of Blues, Putumayo World Music, Walt Disney World, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and much more. Shane lives with his wife and three children in Castro Valley, California.

Previous Instructors

George Lewinski (Lecturer)
George Lewinski has worked in radio and television since college in 1965. He is senior producer of ‘Pacific Time’ a KQED-produced and Public Radio International-distributed weekly program on Asia and Asian America. Previously, he was foreign editor of the award-winning ‘Marketplace’ program. Up to 1988 he was employed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal, Toronto and London, England, as writer, editor, program producer and reporter for both radio and television news and current affairs. He has taught at the School for a decade.

Davia Nelson (Lecturer)
Nelson and Silva, also known as the "Kitchen Sisters", are frequent contributors to NPR.

Sarah Sarasohn (Not Selected)
Sarasohn is current the Commentaries Editor for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." She has also produced, directed, edited and reported for "All Things Considered" for over a decade.

Nikki Silva (Lecturer)

Laura Sydell (Lecturer)
Sydell has been a reporter for National Public Radio and for WNYC in New York.

Laura Sydell (Not Selected)
Sydell is a Correspondent for National Public Radio. Her reports on the impact of technology on culture and everyday life can be heard regularly on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and “All Things Considered.” She previously covered race relations, religion, and entrepreneurship for NPR and was formerly the Senior Technology Reporter for Public Radio International’s “Marketplace.”

Robin Wise (Lecturer)
Robin Wise is an independent audio engineer working from her post-production studio, Sound Imagery, in Sebastopol, CA. Robin has engineered and served as technical director for over 150 radio documentaries. Awards received for these programs include The Peabody Award, The Robert Wood Johnson Award, AAAS Award, Silver Baton of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Women in Communications Award, and the Clarion Award. Robin has provided digital audio technology training and consulting at the United Nations, AARP Headquarters, Marketplace, Savvy Traveler, radio stations, SoundPrint Media Center, and to countless radio documentarians. Her field recording locations include India, Pakistan, South Africa, Central America and Europe. Robin performs post production for Simon & Schuster Audio Books, and creates CD masters and DVDs for diverse projects.
More about Wise