Mike Pesca
Encyclopedia
Mike Pesca is a Jewish American
radio journalist based in New York City
. He serves as a National Desk correspondent
for National Public Radio (NPR), and is a panelist on Slate magazine's
weekly sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.
sports program, offering his opinion on the New York Jets
. In 1997, Pesca got his first job in radio as an intern at the station working on New York & Co which would later become The Leonard Lopate Show.
Pesca went on to work as Producer-At-Large for the WNYC and NPR program On the Media
(OTM). He had a recurring segment on OTM called "Mike's Pockets", in which he would "disgorge little bits of media fluff" he encountered. In late 2005, he became the first NPR reporter to have his own podcast
, On Gambling with Mike Pesca on which he discussed topics related to gambling
. He served as a reporter for NPR and Slate's mid-day show Day to Day
, on which he also occasionally filled in as host. Other public radio programs he has guest hosted include The Bryant Park Project, Talk of the Nation
, On Point
and The Brian Lehrer Show.
In his current position as National Correspondent for NPR, Pesca's reports can be heard on Morning Edition
, All Things Considered
and Weekend Edition
. He covers mainly sports and pop culture for the network. In the past he has covered a wide range of topics including politics
, economics
, and the arts
, to all of which he typically brings his own irreverent attitude. He has also written for Slate and the Washington Post.
In addition to his weekly duties as a panelist on Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast, Pesca has appeared as a guest on many popular podcasts including NPR's Planet Money
, Slate's Culture Gabfest, Luke Burbank's Too Beautiful to Live
, The Sporkful and Maximum Fun's Jordan, Jesse, Go!.
in Atlanta, Georgia
, where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi
fraternity and served as vice-president of the school's intra-fraternity council. He graduated from Emory in 1994.
Pesca lives in Manhattan
with his wife Robin, sons Milo and Emmett. He is a long-suffering fan of the New York Jets
, New York Mets
, New York Knicks
and St. Johns Red Storm
. In 2006 Pesca appeared as a contestant on the game show
Jeopardy!
, where he led going into the Final Jeopardy round only to finish in third place.
He most recently was awarded the 2010 Murrow for audio sports reporting in the Radio Network/Syndication Service category. He received the award for the season-long weekly series, Friday Night Lives, on "the phenomenon of high school football" which Pesca created with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. The series aired throughout 2009 and 2010 on All Things Considered.
Pesca previously won the 2001 Murrow Award for Best Radio Feature Reporting. The award was given for his report, "Cracker Jack," the premise of which is that the product's
inclusion by name in the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame amounts to the "most successful product placement in history". The report aired on On the Media on August 4, 2001.
Selected stories by Mike Pesca:
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
radio journalist based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He serves as a National Desk correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
for National Public Radio (NPR), and is a panelist on Slate magazine's
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
weekly sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.
Radio career
Pesca first appeared on radio as a ten-year-old caller to a local New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
sports program, offering his opinion on the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. In 1997, Pesca got his first job in radio as an intern at the station working on New York & Co which would later become The Leonard Lopate Show.
Pesca went on to work as Producer-At-Large for the WNYC and NPR program On the Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
(OTM). He had a recurring segment on OTM called "Mike's Pockets", in which he would "disgorge little bits of media fluff" he encountered. In late 2005, he became the first NPR reporter to have his own podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, On Gambling with Mike Pesca on which he discussed topics related to gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
. He served as a reporter for NPR and Slate's mid-day show Day to Day
Day to Day
Day to Day was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio , and produced by NPR in collaboration with Slate. Madeleine Brand served as host since 2006...
, on which he also occasionally filled in as host. Other public radio programs he has guest hosted include The Bryant Park Project, Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
, On Point
On Point
On Point is a two-hour call-in radio show hosted by Tom Ashbrook, a former The Boston Globe foreign editor and reporter, author and Internet entrepreneur. It is produced by WBUR in Boston and syndicated by National Public Radio...
and The Brian Lehrer Show.
In his current position as National Correspondent for NPR, Pesca's reports can be heard on Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
, All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
and Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
. He covers mainly sports and pop culture for the network. In the past he has covered a wide range of topics including politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
, to all of which he typically brings his own irreverent attitude. He has also written for Slate and the Washington Post.
In addition to his weekly duties as a panelist on Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast, Pesca has appeared as a guest on many popular podcasts including NPR's Planet Money
Planet Money
Planet Money is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR. The podcast launched on September 6, 2008 to cover the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 in the wake of the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was created after the success of "The Giant Pool of Money", an episode of...
, Slate's Culture Gabfest, Luke Burbank's Too Beautiful to Live
Too Beautiful to Live
Too Beautiful to Live is a podcast and a former radio show originating from Seattle, Washington. It first aired on January 7, 2008 and its final broadcast was September 11, 2009...
, The Sporkful and Maximum Fun's Jordan, Jesse, Go!.
Personal
Pesca attended Emory UniversityEmory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
fraternity and served as vice-president of the school's intra-fraternity council. He graduated from Emory in 1994.
Pesca lives in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
with his wife Robin, sons Milo and Emmett. He is a long-suffering fan of the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
, New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and St. Johns Red Storm
St. John's Red Storm men's basketball
The St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team represents the St. John's University in Queens, New York. The team participates in the Big East Conference. The men’s coach Norm Roberts was fired on March 19, 2010...
. In 2006 Pesca appeared as a contestant on the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, where he led going into the Final Jeopardy round only to finish in third place.
Awards
Pesca is a two-time Edward R. Murrow Award winner. The Murrow awards are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (formerly the Radio and Television News Directors Association) for excellence in electronic journalism.He most recently was awarded the 2010 Murrow for audio sports reporting in the Radio Network/Syndication Service category. He received the award for the season-long weekly series, Friday Night Lives, on "the phenomenon of high school football" which Pesca created with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. The series aired throughout 2009 and 2010 on All Things Considered.
Pesca previously won the 2001 Murrow Award for Best Radio Feature Reporting. The award was given for his report, "Cracker Jack," the premise of which is that the product's
Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack is a U.S. brand of snack consisting of strong molasses flavored candy-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of nominal value inside. Some food historians consider it the first junk food...
inclusion by name in the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame amounts to the "most successful product placement in history". The report aired on On the Media on August 4, 2001.
External links
- Pesca's TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
feed: @pescami - Pesca's NPR archive
Selected stories by Mike Pesca: