Iowa Public Radio appoints Wanamaker host of ‘All Things Considered’

The following excerpt was sent out from desmoinesregister.com:

Longtime Minnesota Public Radio regular John Wanamaker is moving to Des Moines.

His last day at St. Paul-based MPR is Sept. 21 and he will join Iowa Public Radio in early October. After two decades on the Twin Cities airwaves, he is excited for something new.

“I’ll be honest. Most of our friends have some Iowa connections up here — they’re either from Iowa or they went to Iowa with my wife,” Wanamaker told the Register. “I was also ready for a change. I think I was a little played out.”

Wanamaker will begin hosting the local version of “All Things Considered” here in Iowa later this fall. He replaces Catherine Wheeler, who hosted the program from 2021 until she left Iowa Public Radio in July for a position with North Country Public Radio in New York state.

“I’ve always looked at hosting in radio as a conversation … make it conversational, try to find out what is important for your listeners and deliver the news they want to hear and need to hear,” Wanamaker said. He also said that he takes a more lowkey approach to broadcasting on public radio, which is typically less personality-driven.

Before joining MPR, the newscaster worked for six years as an anchor and reporter at WCCO Radio.

His body of work in Minnesota includes coverage of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, where he was tear gassed twice. Wanamaker was also one of the first journalists present to cover the I-35W Bridge Collapse over the Mississippi River, which shocked the nation and led to kitchen table conversations about infrastructure.