Paul Westhelle
Executive DirectorPaul Westhelle oversees management of JPR's service to the community. He came to JPR in 1990 as Associate Director of Broadcasting for Marketing and Development after holding jobs in non-profit management and fundraising for a national health agency.
Paul grew up in northern New Jersey just outside New York City. As a student at Seton Hall University he developed a love for live music romping around Greenwich Village clubs. He traveled west in 1981 to attend San Jose State University where he graduated with a B.A. from its School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Paul believes the meaning of life can be found in public radio and baseball. He’s coached several of Ashland's outstanding youth baseball teams and served as Head Coach of the Ashland High School Varsity team in 2012.
Paul and his wife, Patti Grant, live in Ashland. They have two adult children, Kelsey and Evan.
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As we look to the year ahead, we expect a great deal of uncertainty. Following the November election, the incoming Trump administration has announced the formation of a committee called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The charge of this committee, according to the administration, is to reduce the size of government and save money by improving efficiency and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Who could be against that? -
Both JPR and NPR get plenty of feedback from listeners. This feedback runs the gamut from wild, expletive laden rants to well-reasoned, thoughtful critiques of our work. -
Summer is awards season in newsrooms around the country, a time when several prominent news organizations recognize the best journalism produced in the previous year. Here at JPR, we submit stories that we believe reflect our best work, not to pat ourselves on the back, but to see how our work stacks up against our peers. These awards are judged by accomplished journalists, communication professionals and academics so recognition is very meaningful to both reporters and newsroom leaders. -
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In an attempt to add conservative viewpoints to its news coverage, NBC recently announced that former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair, Ronna McDaniel, would join the network as a regular commentator. And then it fired her less than a week after her first appearance.
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In early February an email arrived from NPR announcing Linda Wertheimer’s retirement. Wertheimer has been an NPR icon for over five decades and, along with Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, and the late Cokie Roberts, was crowned one of NPR’s “founding mothers” in the 2021 bestseller Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli. -
This past September, a coalition of 22 donors announced a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years.
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In a fundraising break during our Fall Fund Drive, JPR News Director Erik Neumann and I got to talking about the role JPR plays in mentoring and developing early-career journalists. Erik reminded me that I once described this role as being similar to that of a teaching hospital, albeit in a different field. I’ve been thinking about this lately because we’re in the midst of recruiting and hiring a new regional reporter for our news team. -
It’s budget season in Washington, D.C. and that usually means some amount of drama. While the season is still relatively young, already the House Appropriations Committee may soon consider a draft bill that would call for the elimination of all federal funding for public broadcasting. -
An email from NPR this week announced that NPR is “actively engaged in developing a framework and set of principles to guide its decision-making on all aspects of AI (Artificial Intelligence) investment and usage.” The email went on to say that NPR would be consulting with experts across a wide range of areas, including editorial, legal, security and data governance, to evaluate how AI might be used at NPR and across the NPR Network. -
The JPR newsroom received a series of awards in 2023 from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Public Media Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. Listener support makes all of this high-quality, local journalism possible! -
Exactly what caused Twitter to reclassify NPR as "state-affiliated media" earlier this month remains a mystery.
