NPR has tapped KPCC’s George “A” Martínez to become West Coast anchor of “Morning Edition,” becoming the fourth host of the drivetime news magazine, carried by 835 public radio stations nationwide.
He’ll join co-anchors Steve Inskeep, Rachel Martin and Noel King on the show and will also host the popular morning podcast “Up First.” He fills the vacancy left by the departure of anchor David Greene in 2020.
Martínez will start the new job with NPR on July 6, based at NPR West in Culver City, CA.
His first day on-air will be announced in the coming weeks.
Martínez was a sports-talk personality, who hosted ESPN Radio KSPN-AM‘s “In the Zone,” when he was hired at KPCC in 2012 to co-host a popular morning show as part of a CPB $6-million grant aimed at boosting diversity at the Los Angeles public radio station.
That grant launched the One Nation Media Project, which helped KPCC hire more Latinos and almost doubled Latino listenership from 2009 to 2015, according to a Latino Public Radio Consortium analysis published that year.
Martínez, whose family hails from Ecuador, acknowledges he had never listened to public radio until he was hired at KPCC.
During his tenure at the L.A. public radio station, he had two co-hosts in two rebranded shows. His weekday live program “Take Two” moved to the afternoons, where he has been solo anchor since 2017.