Radio biz reporter Watt to become morning anchor

Brian Watt, who has covered the workplace and entrepreneurship for Southern California Public Radio, has been hired as the morning anchor of KQED, an NPR station in San Francisco.

Watt has been a reporter with Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles for nine years. Before joining SCPR, he worked as a producer for the Marketplace Morning Report. Watt’s work has won several awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, the Radio Television News Association of Southern California and Public Radio News Directors Inc.

“Brian’s passion for public service, great voice and depth of experience are exactly what we were looking for in a news anchor,” said Holly Kernan, KQED executive editor for news, in a statement. “He’ll be a terrific addition to a very talented team, and we look forward to having Brian guide us through the local news landscape each morning.”

In 1998, Watt earned a masters in theater from the Sorbonne Theater Studies Institute in Paris. As an actor, he appeared on TV shows including “The West Wing” and “The District” and performed in France, Italy, Poland and Brazil, and even filmed a movie in Budapest, Hungary.

After graduating from Yale in 1990, Watt served as a personal assistant to U.S. Senator Harris Wofford before becoming campaign manager for his father Mel Watt’s successful congressional campaign.