The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
''
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...
s, and former host of th Roughly Speaking podcast for baltimoresun.com. He was previously the host of Midday, a two-hour, daily talk show on
WYPR
WYPR (88.1 FM) is a public radio station serving the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. Its studio is in the Charles Village neighborhood of northern Baltimore, while its transmitter is in Park Heights. The station is simulcast in the Fred ...
FM 88.1, the
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 ...
station in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, and the host of "Rodricks For Breakfast" on
WMAR-TV
WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road ( ...
, (Channel 2.1).
After arriving in Baltimore from
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...
, Rodricks started writing a column for the former afternoon paper, The Evening Sun in 1979. The column has appeared at least twice per week, but most often three times per week, ever since. The column moved to the newly consolidated morning and evening editions of The Sun in 1990. It is one of the longest-running newspaper columns in the U.S.
Rodricks' "Dear Drug Dealers" series in ''The Sun'', a public call for an end to criminal violence in Baltimore, won the 2006 "Excellence in Urban Journalism Award" from the
Freedom Forum
The Freedom Forum is the creator of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which it sold to Johns Hopkins University in 2019. It is a nonpartisan 501 (c)(3) foundation that advances First Amendment freedoms through initiatives that include the Power Shif ...
and the
Enterprise Foundation Enterprise foundations are foundations that own companies.
Enterprise foundations are independent, self-governing entities with no owners. They are characterised by long time horizons, philanthropic goals and the absence of personal profit motives. ...
(established by
Gannett Newspapers
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Chesapeake Associated Press. Thousands of ex-felons and current incarcerated prisoners over the years contacted Rodricks seeking help in post-prison employment. Rodricks has won national awards, including the "National Headliners Award" for commentary and the "
Heywood Broun Award
Heywood Campbell Broun Jr. (; December 7, 1888 – December 18, 1939) was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, later known as The Newspaper ...
" from the
Newspaper Guild
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practice ...
for columns that championed the underdog. His columns have won numerous awards from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association. Rodricks has frequently been cited as best columnist by readers of the longtime metro monthly periodical,
Baltimore magazine
''Baltimore'' magazine is a monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C., a company owned by Steve Geppi and led by its President Michael Teitelbaum. It is the oldest, continuously published city magazine in ...
and the weekly alternative newspaper, the
Baltimore City Paper
''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith (publisher), Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased th ...
.
From 1980 to 1993, Rodricks produced a weekly commentary or feature for WBAL-TV's 5 pm newscast. From 1989 until 1993, Rodricks hosted a nightly
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk S ...
on
WBAL-AM
WBAL (1090 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Baltimore, Maryland, and owned by the broadcasting division of Hearst Communications. Airing a news/ talk radio format, WBAL broadcasts on a Class A clear-channel frequency, ...
(1090), as well as a five-hour Saturday morning radio show that ran until 1995. His radio documentaries won the "Silver Medal" in an international broadcast competition in 1993. Rodricks weekly hosted a live, local-interest Saturday morning television show, "Rodricks For Breakfast" on WMAR-TV from January 1995 until October 1999. His Midday show ran on WYPR-FM from 2008 until 2015, when Rodricks created th Roughly Speaking podcast for the Baltimore Sun. The podcast was retired after 450 episodes in 2019. A collection of Rodricks' columns, "Mencken Doesn't Live Here Anymore," was published in 1989. His second book, "Father's Day Creek: Fly Fishing, Fatherhood and The Last Best Place on Earth," was published by Apprentice House in 2019. It was selected as one of the top five books of the year by Trout, the national magazine of Trout Unlimited.