I've been telling you for weeks about the hiring of new Houston talk show host Craig Cohen and the soft launch of his 88.7 KUHF Houston Matters show last Friday.
Now the Houston NPR station is revealing the full enchilada as they say, I'm not sure who says that, but someone does:
Craig Cohen, a 20+ year veteran of broadcast journalism, will host Houston Matters, a new public affairs show on KUHF News 88.7FM and kuhf.org beginning Friday, April 26 from noon to 1pm. The radio program will initially air weekly, each Friday, with plans to expand to a daily broadcast as additional staff is hired. Houston Matters will focus on news, trends and topical issues of interest and importance to the Greater Houston community. Also debuting on April 26 is the Houston Matters website www.houstonmatters.org.
Conceived by KUHF News, a division of Houston Public Media, Houston Matters is a continuation of the organization’s commitment to highlighting social and cultural issues of community concern and to serving a growing and increasingly diverse Houston-area population. Offering a forum for civil conversations with scholars, community and government leaders and listeners, the show will bring callers, social media participants and studio guests together to engage in discussions about the issues, ideas, people, and places that impact Greater Houston.
"Houston Public Media is steadfast in its dedication to convening diverse perspectives. Houston Matters is a destination for listeners seeking depth, context and perspective on relevant topics of the day," said Lisa Trapani Shumate, Houston Public Media executive director & general manager.
Houston Matters executive producer and host, Craig Cohen, joined KUHF in March after previously serving as News and Public Affairs Director for Illinois Public Media/WILL, and hosting public radio talk programs in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Cohen has spent the bulk of his career in public media, in roles ranging from programmer and manager, to talk show host, reporter, news director, and producer.
Craig Cohen
“I’m looking forward to engaging with Houstonians,” says Cohen, “This community is full of interesting topics and ideas. Houston Matters will provide a multi-platform approach to conversations that will help us all be better informed and connected.”
Also joining the Houston Matters production team are KUHF reporters Edel Howlin and Shomial Ahmad. Starting her career in Ireland on music radio as a producer and anchor, Howlin later switched to news/talk radio and in 2011 joined KUHF. Ahmad, a multi-platform reporter at KUHF, previously worked as a staff reporter at WABE, Atlanta's NPR station. A graduate of NYU's journalism graduate program, she worked as an NPR Kroc Fellow and has previously reported for NPR, the BBC/PRI show TheWorld and The New York Times.
About KUHF
KUHF News, a division of Houston Public Media, offers international, national, regional and local coverage from the KUHF Newsroom, NPR, the BBC and American Public Media. KUHF’s program services are broadcast on 88.7 FM, HD-1, and online at kuhf.org. KUHF is supported financially by its listener-members and by gifts from the greater Houston community through the Association for Community Broadcasting. KUHF is licensed to the Board of Regents of the University of Houston and is operated in the public interest as a community outreach of the university. More information is at www.kuhf.org.
