Rico Gagliano is an American journalist, podcaster and radio host. He is best known as the co-host, with

Brendan Francis Newnam Brendan Francis Newnam is a writer and radio host best known as the co-host of ''The Dinner Party Download'' with Rico Gagliano, produced by American Public Media. Radio career A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Brendan studied to be a lawye ...

, of

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

’s arts-and-culture radio show and podcast “The Dinner Party Download”, and as a reporter for the public radio business show “Marketplace". He has also written for television and for print media, including the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. He is currently Head of Audio at the cinephile streaming service and film distributor

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

Biography

Rico is the son of Frank Gagliano, a playwright and theater educator, and Sandra Gagliano, an opera singer and voice instructor. He received his B.A. in Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a DJ at college station WPTS-FM. He earned an MFA in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

Career

Early career

Gagliano contributed arts features and criticism to In Pittsburgh newsweekly (now Pittsburgh City Paper). He briefly served as the paper's music editor. His arts profiles, reviews and previews also appeared regularly in the daily Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1995, Gagliano freelanced for LA Weekly before turning to public radio — filing features for

Marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

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 ...

, Weekend America, and the Savvy Traveler. Gagliano was a full-time reporter for

from 2006 to 2010. In addition to domestic and foreign business & economy reporting, he wrote and produced the show's “Marketplace Players” satirical sketches.

Dinner Party Download

In 2008, Gagliano co-created the podcast “The Dinner Party Download” with

. The two also co-hosted and co-produced, with Gagliano as primary editor. Begun as an independent bi-weekly, 15-minute show, it was eventually produced and distributed by

, and expanded to an hour-long weekly radio show in 2011. It ran for 400 episodes and aired on 183 public radio stations. The show was nominated for multiple podcasting honors, including “Best Arts And Culture Show” at the

2018 Webby Awards The 23rd annual Webby Awards were held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on May 14, 2018, which was hosted by comedian and writer Amber Ruffin. The Webby Awards have been dubbed the "internet's highest honor" and, in 2018, received over 13,00 ...

. It was named “Best Food and Drink Podcast” by the Academy of Podcasters at the 2016

Podcast Movement Podcast Movement (PM) is an annual conference for the podcast industry. It is one of the largest gatherings of participants in podcasting, with over 3,000 attendees in 2019. Described as "for podcasters, by podcasters", it focuses on collaborati ...

conference and was a finalist the following year. Gagliano's interviews garnered two National Arts & Entertainment Journalism awards and a Southern California Journalism Award from the

Los Angeles Press Club The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards. The Board of Directors includes the organi ...

. A companion book written by Gagliano and Newnam, “Brunch Is Hell: How to Save the World by Throwing a Dinner Party” was published by Little Brown Inc. in December 2017. The show aired its final all-new episode the same week.

Post Dinner Party Download

In 2019 and 2020, Gagliano was a recurring guest host for Southern California

NPR 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 ...

affiliate

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

's daily news and culture shows "Press Play" and "Greater L.A.". He earned another Southern California Journalism Award for his "Press Play" profile of Tommy Peltier, an early collaborator of musician

Judee Sill Judith Lynne Sill (October 7, 1944 – November 23, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums on Asylum and partially completed a third album before dying of a d ...

. Gagliano co-hosted two shows for the podcasting network

Wondery Wondery is an American podcast network and publisher of numerous award-winning podcasts, including Dirty John, Dr. Death, and The Shrink Next Door. Wondery was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and media executive Hernan Lopez. The company was lau ...

: "Safe for Work" and "One Plus One." Both ended production in 2020. Later that year he served as Senior Story Editor for the

Crooked Media Crooked Media is a progressive American political media company. It was founded in 2017 by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, all former top Barack Obama staffers and former co-hosts of the '' Keepin' it 1600'' podcast. Dan Pfeiffer, also ...

podcast "Missing America", and as co-writer and co-producer of Wondery's "Jacked: Rise of the New Jack Sound", hosted by Taraji P. Henson. Both were nominated for Webby awards, with "Missing America" winning a "People's Voice" award for "Best Individual Episode - Documentary".

MUBI Podcast

In 2021,

announced Gagliano would host, write and executive produce its first flagship podcast. It completed its first season in July 2021 and announced a second season will be forthcoming. In March 2022, MUBI announced Gagliano had been named Head of Audio for the company, and would continue to host the MUBI Podcast. Since its launch, the show has been nominated for two Webby Awards (including "Best Arts/Culture Podcast"), two Ambie awards (including "Best Entertainment Podcast"), and a British Podcast Award ("Best New Show").

Television

Gagliano was a writer's assistant on the sixth season of the TV sitcom

Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...

. He spent several years thereafter writing for comedy, animation and reality TV, including

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

’s

Teamo Supremo ''Teamo Supremo'' is an American animated television series created by Phil Walsh. Animated in the limited animation style pioneered by Jay Ward, predecessors which inspired its style, it tells of three superhero children: Captain Crandall, Skate ...

and Cartoon Network’s Hero 108. He was on the writing staff of MTV’s

Undressed ''Undressed'' is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999, to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé. Synopsis The series follows the relationships (both rom ...

along with

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

co-creator

Damon Lindelof Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the ...

and director Steven S. DeKnight.

Print

Gagliano contributes music, food, and travel features to the New York Times and the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagliano, Rico American male journalists American public radio personalities American podcasters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Pittsburgh alumni AFI Conservatory alumni