Madeleine Brand is an American

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and radio personality. Brand is the host of the news and culture show ''Press Play'', on KCRW-FM (89.9), one of Los Angeles' two

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR) affiliates. The show made its debut in January 2014.KCRW biography
Ryan Faughnder
Madeleine Brand returns to radio with 'Press Play' debut on KCRW
''Los Angeles Times'', January 28, 2014. Brand broadcasts from the basement of the cafeteria of Santa Monica College.

Education

A Los Angeles native, Brand grew up in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.Deborah Vankin

''Los Angeles Times'', November 5, 2012. Brand attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, beginning her radio career on college radio station KALX; she earned a B.A. in English, with honors, in 1988. She later received a master's degree from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

, where she later returned to teach documentary radio.Tessa Stuart
How KPCC's Quest for Latino Listeners Doomed The Madeleine Brand Show
''LA Weekly'', November 1, 2012.

Career

Brand reported and anchored for NPR for thirteen years at various affiliates across the country: KQED, San Francisco; WBUR, Boston; WBGO, Newark, and

WBFO WBFO (88.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "BTPM NPR") is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio, public radio station in Buffalo, New York. It is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Associati ...

, Buffalo.Madeleine Brand Joins Alex Chadwick as Host of "Day to Day," NPR Midday Newsmagazine
NPR, February 1, 2006. She served as West Coast correspondent and occasional substitute host for ''

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 ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. In 2006, she began co-hosting the radio program '' Day to Day'' with

Alex Chadwick Alex Chadwick is an American journalist best known for his work on National Public Radio, and as a former co-host of the radio newsmagazine '' Day to Day''. He was a part of the development of NPR's '' Morning Edition'' in the 1970s and was a ...

, which broadcast from NPR West studios in Los Angeles. In 2010, Brand became host of the new daily Southern California Public Radio program ''The Madeleine Brand Show'' on the public radio station KPCC, which aired between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Pacific Time. The show broadcast from the Mohn Broadcast Center in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

. The show was popular for its first 23 months, and was the station's most-listened-to in-house program (with the highest

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

rankings), and won a number of radio journalism awards. However, the show came to an "abrupt end" after KPCC paired Brand with longtime ESPN sports reporter A Martínez in an attempt to attract Latino listeners and fulfill the requirements of a $6 million

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...

grant. The pairing of the two hosts, under the name ''Brand & Martínez'', debuted August 13, 2012, but lasted just four weeks and was a failure, in part because the two had met only twice before the program began. Brand left the station in September 2012 and was replaced by Alex Cohen (the show was renamed ''Take Two''). Following her time at NPR, Brand was briefly at the Los Angeles

public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

station

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

as a special contributor to the fifth season of ''SoCal Connected'', hosted by Val Zavala. In Summer 2013, Brand occasionally substituted for longtime broadcaster Warren Olney IV on his show '' To the Point'' on KPCC's rival KCRW. In September 2013, Brand moved to KCRW and began to develop ''Press Play'', which debuted in January 2014, becoming the first new daily program on KCRW since 2001. ''Press Play'' competes against Larry Mantle's ''AirTalk'' on KPCC.

Personal life

Brand is married to filmmaker Joe DeMarie, and together they have two children. She lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

References

External links

KCRW.org: "Press Play with Madeleine Brand"
— ''current LA news + culture broadcast—podcast''.
NPR.org: KCRW's Press Play with Madeleine Brand
— ''NPR podcasts links''.
Twitter.com: Madeleine Brand (@TheMadBrand)

Facebook.com: KCRW Press Play - Home

* [http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/making-radio-waves-the-surprisingly-messy-end-to-kpccs-the-madeleine-brand-show/ Los Angeles Magazine.com: "Making Radio Waves: The Surprisingly Messy End to KPCC's The Madeleine Brand Show" (November 2013)]
NPR.org: "Madeleine Brand Joins Alex Chadwick as Host of ''Day to Day'', the NPR Midday Newsmagazine." (February 2006)

''Notebook on Cities and Culture.org: An interview with Madeleine Brand''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Madeleine American radio journalists American television journalists Radio personalities from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Journalists from California NPR personalities Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni People from Silver Lake, Los Angeles 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists American women television journalists American women radio journalists