Kirk Siegler is an American journalist who has been working for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(NPR) since 2012.

Early life and education

Siegler grew up outside Missoula, Montana. After graduating from high school, he went to

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, to attend

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

and graduated with a B.A. in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

Career

Siegler briefly worked as a waiter in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, before beginning his journalism career. In 2003, he joined

Montana Public Radio Montana Public Radio is a network of public radio stations serving the U.S. state of Montana, primarily the western part of the state. The network is currently owned by the University of Montana, and its studios are located on the university camp ...

as the first State House bureau chief. Later, he moved to Aspen, Colorado, and spent seven years working at the NPR member station

KUNC KUNC (91.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk public radio format. Licensed to Greeley, Colorado, United States, it serves Northern Colorado, including Fort Collins and Greeley. The station is owned and operated by Community Radio f ...

and Aspen Public Radio as a reporter and, later, as Aspen Public Radio's news director. He covered the ski industry, immigration and an energy boom in western Colorado involving a major dispute over fracking. In 2012, Siegler received three Edward R. Murrow Awards from the

Radio Television Digital News Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

, for new documentary, breaking news, and sound categories. In 2015,

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

awarded him an international reporting fellowship for his work on health and development in Nepal. In 2019, Siegler helped open NPR's first bureau in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

which is based in Boise State Public Radio.

NPR

In December 2012, Siegler joined NPR's national desk and since then has been covering the western United States for NPR. Siegler's reporting focuses on issues such as the environmental and economic impacts of the

drought in California The historical and ongoing droughts in California result from various complex meteorological phenomena, some of which are not fully understood by scientists. Drought is generally defined as “a deficiency of precipitation over an extended peri ...

and the West. He also covers the region's land-use disputes. His assignments have included coverage of anti-government protests in the region, including an interview with Nevada rancher, Cliven Bundy, at his home outside Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014. Siegler has covered wildfires while working with a crew made up entirely of Native American from Arizona, seen and covered the aftermath of many of the most prominent mass shootings in American history, gone skiing with snowboarder and Protect our Winters founder Jeremy Jones, traveled by canoe to the Colombian jungles to report on the

cacao Cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, from Spanish cacao, an adaptation of Nahuatl cacaua, the root form of cacahuatl ("bean of the cocoa-tree"). It may also refer to: Plants *''Theobroma cacao'', a tropical evergreen tree ** ...

industry, and gone down into a volcano. He also contributes extensively to the NPR's news coverage. His stories are regularly featured on ''Morning Edition'' and ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''.

Awards and recognition

* Edward R. Murrow Award (2012) *

Fellowship (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegler, Kirk Living people University of Colorado Boulder alumni NPR personalities Year of birth missing (living people) People from Missoula, Montana