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Tom Hudson, VP of News at WLRN

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Tom Hudson, VP of News at WLRN

 

 




Introduction to Tom Hudson.  1:45 min.  Camera:  Angelika Rinnhofer.  Editor:  John Perez  Music:  Carmen Cicero.  Photo & Design:  Raymond Elman.

 

In a journalism career covering news from high global finance to neighborhood infrastructure, TOM HUDSON is the Vice President of News and Special Correspondent for WLRN.  He hosts and produces the Sunshine Economy and anchors the Florida Roundup in addition to leading the organization’s news engagement strategy.

Hudson was most recently the co-anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report on Public Television. In that position Hudson reported on topics such as Federal Reserve interest rate policy, agriculture and global trade. Prior to co-anchoring NBR, he was host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated financial television program “First Business.”

Tom also reported and anchored market coverage for the groundbreaking web-based financial news service, WebFN. Beginning in 2001, WebFN was among the first live online streaming video outlets. While there he reported regularly from the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and the CME.

Before his jump to television and broadband, Tom co-anchored morning drive for the former all-news, heritage 50kw WMAQ-AM/Chicago. He spent the better part of a decade in general news as anchor, reporter, manager and talk show host in several markets covering a wide variety of stories and topics.

He has served as a member of the adjunct faculty in the Journalism Department of Columbia College Chicago and has been a frequent guest on other TV and radio programs as well as a guest speaker at universities on communications, journalism and business.

Tom writes a weekly column for the Miami Herald and the McClatchy-Tribune News Service. He appears regularly on KNX-AM/Los Angeles and WBBM-AM/Chicago for commentary on the economy and investment markets.

While Tom was co-anchoring and managing NBR, the program was awarded the 2012 Program of Excellence Award by American Public Television. Tom also has been awarded two National Press Foundation fellowships including one for the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists in 2006. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa and is the recipient of several professional honors and awards for his work in journalism.

He is married with two boys who tend to wake up early on the weekends.

— WLRN website

The videos below are organized by topic and run between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:47 min.




Where did you grow up, and what was your earliest awareness of news reporting?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE:   0:29 sec.




Growing up, was there a point where you realized how much people value the news?

 

COLLABORATION:  2:05 min.




What did you learn in school that still informs you today?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:  0:44 sec.




The University of Iowa is home to the famous Iowa Writers Workshop. Right?

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:  3:01 min.




When did you know you wanted to be a broadcast journalist?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  1:32 min.




Did you always have a resonant voice?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE: 2:45 min.




Radio went from being the only broadcast news medium, to being almost totally eclipsed by television, to making a major comeback as public radio. What are your thoughts about that cycle?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:   2:08 min.




Most of NPR’s callers sound intelligent and middle age or older. What is the relationship like between NPR and Millennials or people under 40?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:  3:17 min.




What are your thoughts about the concept that any inane piece of video might go viral?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE:  0:44 sec.




What do you do to try to give a balanced view of the news?

 

COMMUNITY VALUES:  2:05 min.




In the past it was required that a broadcast channel give equal time to all sides of a political issue. That regulation seems to be long gone.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  2:14 min.




What’s your opinion regarding the accusations of fake news, and the value of an independent press?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  2:12 min.




Who have been your role models and influencers?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE:  1:42 min.




Do you receive pressure from politicians, lobbyists, and others to slant stories in their favor?

 

DEVELOP A VOICE:  1:45 min.




ArtSpeak reports on journalism as an art form, but I rarely hear journalists talk about their work as a form of art, even though there are many creative elements such as writing, photography, design, videography, etc.

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:  3:29 min.




What was your path into business reporting?

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY:  3:36 min.




What does a typical day look like for you?

 

COMMUNITY VALUES:  0:58 sec.




Talk about the evolution of the “Zip Ode.”

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART:  3:04 min.




How do you and WLRN view the podcast market?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE:  3:26 min.




Is most of your reporting live or on tape? And are most of your interactions face-to-face or remote?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:  3:47 min.




What do you do when you capture someone making an unflattering mistake during an interview?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:  2:37 min.




Who are the most difficult people to interview?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:  2:42 min.




Can you describe a challenging situation with a successful outcome?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 3:41 min.




South Florida news institutions have seemingly reduced their reporting on the arts. Is that because of limited audience appeal or limited financial resources?

 

EMPATHY:   1:07 min.




Some of the running themes for ArtSpeak are climate change, sea level rise, and immigration, which cut across our art verticals (music, theater, visual art, architecture, etc.) just like art cuts across WLRN’s news verticals.

 

COMMUNITY VALUES:  1:50 min.




Sebastian Junger, author of “The Perfect Storm,” opened a bar in New York called The Half King, to foster the kind of journalistic camaraderie that he experienced in war torn countries. Does anything like that exist in South Florida?