Wade William Goodwyn (January 12, 1960 – June 8, 2023) was an American journalist who was the national desk correspondent 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 ...

. Goodwyn began his career in radio as a freelancer and began working for NPR in 1991. His coverage focused on news in and around

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Early career

Goodwyn was the son of Lawrence Goodwyn, a journalist, liberal activist, and history professor at Duke University. Wade Goodwyn attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, graduating with a degree in history. His first career was as a political campaign staffer for

Lloyd Doggett Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born October 6, 1946) is an American attorney and politician who is a U.S. representative from Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented a district based in Austin since 1995, currently numbered as ...

and

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

. He spent time in New York City as a political organizer, and his time listening to

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...

inspired him to pursue a career in radio in general, and with NPR in particular.

Broadcasting

In 1991, Goodwyn met with ''

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 ...

'' host

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast ''All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Early ...

, who connected him with the NPR hiring office. Without prior experience in radio or journalism, Goodwyn began as a freelancer, learning radio techniques from his first editor, Judith Doherty. To make his career transition financially possible, he moved back to Texas. In 1993, Goodwyn went to

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

to add to National Desk Correspondent John Burnett's coverage of the 1993

Branch Davidian The Branch Davidians (or the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) were an apocalyptic new religious movement founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of ...

siege. It became a major national story, and Goodwyn managed the first interview of a former Branch Davidian and other scoops which led to his being hired by NPR as a staff correspondent. Goodwyn's stories were frequently included in NPR programs like ''

'' and ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 A ...

'', covering Texas, the surrounding states, and other stories of national interest. Some of the noteworthy stories he covered were major hurricanes, the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

, the

murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

, the Boy Scouts sexual abuse case, and the first case of ebola in the United States. Goodwyn was known for his baritone voice, which he said deepened with age. NPR CEO John Lansing called him "one of NPR's iconic voices". Goodwyn left NPR on April 28, 2023.

Personal life and death

Goodwyn was married with two daughters and worked out of a home studio in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas. Goodwyn died from cancer on June 8, 2023, at the age of 63.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwyn, Wade 1960 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American radio journalists Journalists from Texas NPR personalities University of Texas alumni