Robert Smith (born December 31, 1967) is an American journalist. He is best known for hosting the
NPR podcast ''
Planet Money
''Planet Money'' is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR. Using "creative and entertaining" dialogue and narrative, ''Planet Money'' claims to be "The Economy Explained."
History
The podcast was created by Alex Blumberg and Adam Davids ...
''.
Smith is a professor of professional practice in journalism and director of the
Knight-Bagehot Fellowship Program at
Columbia University.
Early life and education
Smith was born and raised in
Park City, Utah.
He holds a
B.A. from
Reed College (1989), where he worked at the campus radio station
KRRC, and an
M.B.A. from the
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...
(2020). He also was a Knight-Bagehot fellow at the
Columbia Journalism School (2018).
Career
Smith began reporting for NPR in 1994. He got his start working at
KPCW in
Park City, Utah. He then worked at
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon community radio station
KBOO
KBOO is a non-profit organization, listener-funded FM Community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Oregon. The station's mission is to serve groups in its listening area who are underrepresented on other local radio stations and to provi ...
. He has also held reporting jobs at
KUER in Salt Lake City, Utah, and
KUOW-FM in Seattle, Washington. He won a
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in 2016 for his investigation into Wells Fargo and how they were punishing whistleblowers.
He was part of NPR's political team covering elections including going on the campaign trail for presidential elections, and blogging about elections on the NPR website in 2006.
Smith is known for his coverage of eclectic and offbeat topics from participating in and reporting on
Santarchy, to the life of
Desi Arnaz to training for and reporting on the sport of
curling.
Talking about ''Planet Money'', he says he likes to "make dull business news sparkle."
Smith has taught audio classes at
Princeton University and radio/serialized podcast production classes at the
Maine College of Art & Design
Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is a private art school in Portland, Maine. Founded in 1882, Maine College of Art & Design is the oldest arts educational institution in Maine. Roughly 32% of MECA&D students are from Maine. The college is a ...
.
In 2021, he became the director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University.
References
External links
NPR BiographyRobert Smith's Santarchy report
1967 births
Living people
Reed College alumni
American radio journalists
{{US-radio-bio-stub