Meet the Staff
Host – Sarah McConnell began her career as a reporter with Charlottesville, VA’s WINA 1070 AM. After twenty years as WINA’s News Director, she became host of With Good Reason in 2002. Sarah continues to train upcoming journalists as part of the Board of Directors for WUVA. She and her husband, Bob Gibson, have three daughters, Helen, Logan and Stella.
Associate Producer – Jesse Dukes joined the With Good Reason staff in 2006 after completing the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, ME. As a freelancer, Jesse produces pieces for public radio outlets including PRI’s Studio 360, APM’s Weekend America, HearingVoices.com and VFH’s own Humanities Feature Bureau and Backstory with the American History Guys. He has also produced multimedia stories for the Virginia Quarterly Review and guest curated the Big Shed Audio Podcast.
Associate Producer – Elliot Majerczyk came to the VFH in 2004 after eight years as a writer-broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal. On his time off, Elliot can be found creating “soundscapes” with his home recording technology, approximating good Mexican and Southern cuisine, or just giggling at nothing with his daughter Aviva. To hear one of his sound compositions, listen to the beginning of The Horror of it All.
News Feature Producer – Nancy King and With Good Reason host Sarah McConnell first shared newsroom duties at WINA back in 1979. For seven years, Nancy produced and hosted a daily interview program there called Charlottesville Live, where she chatted with the likes of John Grisham and Rita Mae Brown. Prior to that, Nancy worked as a political reporter in Washington, D.C., and Little Rock, AR. Her passion is birds and she frequently travels with friends to track down elusive species. Nancy also freelances for VFH Radio’s own Humanities Feature Bureau.
Executive Producer – Andrew Wyndham, VFH Director of Media Programs, manages and has created other radio projects and initiatives, including BackStory with the American History Guys and the Humanities Feature Bureau. Andrew developed and served as project director for the 2003 Re-Imagining Ireland international conference and festival, which won the 2004 Schwartz Prize awarded by the Federation of State Humanities Councils. He coordinates the Southern Humanities Media Fund, which supports documentary films and radio programs on the South.
Publicity Coordinator – Lydia Wilson realized in high school that radio offered a legitimate excuse to talk to strangers and has been hooked ever since. For With Good Reason, she manages the website and assists with studio operations. As Editor of VFH Radio’s Humanities Feature Bureau, Lydia recruits and works with independent radio producers to create and distribute stories about the people and places that make Virginia unique.She has filed freelance pieces for APM’s Weekend America, the New York Times online, and Central Virginia NPR Affiliates WMRA and WVTF.
Listener Services – Jeannie Palin makes it possible for With Good Reason to provide free CDs of show episodes to listeners. In between her many duties as part-time Receptionist at the VFH, she manages the listener request database and mails out CDs to listeners around the region. Before Jeannie joined the VFH Staff in 1997, she taught elementary students for nine years and then raised a family full-time at home.
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