Marketplace reporter Kim joining California radio show

KQED Public Radio announced Tuesday that it has hired Queena Sook Kim as the new morning host for its statewide news and public affairs program “The California Report.”

Kim comes from “Marketplace,” where she has been the senior technology reporter since 2012. She will take over “The California Report” morning host chair on Jan. 12, 2015.

“The California Report” is KQED Public Radio’s statewide radio news and public affairs program. TThe program is carried by more than 30 public radio stations in California and many local station reporters are regular contributors to the program.

“It is with great joy that I welcome Queena to ‘The California Report,'” Senior Producer Ingrid Becker said in a statement. “It will be great to have a journalist, who has such strong ties to the state, as part of our team. Queena brings great passion about the public broadcasting mission to foster dialogue and create community through thoughtful journalism.”

Kim was born in Los Angeles and grew up all around Southern California. She spent summers in the Central Valley community of Porterville. For high school she went to boarding school in Monterey and during graduate school she interned at the Modesto Bee.  She added: “I think these experiences all over California have really given me a lifelong appreciation for our state and how grand it is with so many distinct regions with their own issues, histories and culture.”

Previous to “Marketplace,” Kim held reporting jobs at the Wall Street Journal and at KPCC, where she co-created and co-hosted the podcast Cyberfrequencies and co-founded the local public affairs show Off-Ramp. She was also a community editor and multimedia reporter for Bay Citizen.