Rachel Waldholz is the Reporter for Raven Radio – KCAW. And after two years and countless stories, today is her last day on the job. (Emily Foreman/KCAW photo)
Rachel Waldholz is the Reporter for Raven Radio. And after two years and countless stories, today is her last day on the job. In September, Waldholz will join Alaska Public Media as a state-wide energy reporter. While Waldholz is moving to Anchorage, her voice will remain on the airwaves. Expect to hear her stories on the Alaska Morning News and Alaska News Nightly.
Beginning Monday, August 31st, Melissa Marconi Wentzel will return as Morning Edition Host. Former Winter Fellow Emily Kwong will take over as interim reporter while Raven Radio seeks a permanent replacement.
Waldholz first joined Raven as an intern in 2012. At the time, she was a journalism graduate student at U.C. Berkeley and quickly distinguished herself as an incisive news analyst with a knack for radio. She officially took over for Ed Ronco as reporter in January 2013 and has been with the station ever since. As reporter, Rachel covered everything from politics to the fishing industry to the environment. Her series with local biologist Ellen Chenoweth on the endangered species act won an award for Best Science Reporting from the Alaska Press Club. She’s held her microphone naked in the bath house in Tenakee Springs, to the mouth of a bear, and for NPR, in the crosshairs of a battle over halibut.
On her last day, Waldholz spoke with Kwong about her recent experience covering the August 18 landslides and what it taught her.
I think my rule the last two weeks was ‘Crying is fine, you just can’t cry on air.’ Sometimes your job is to report on the Assembly meeting. Sometimes your job is to explain municipal policy. Sometimes your job is to go visit the new black bear at Fortress of the Bear. But you really realize that the reason we have local media, the reason it’s important, is for moments like this when people just need to know what’s happening in their town, to their neighbors. And you hope that you’ve been useful.
