After six years as co-host of Morning Edition, Rachel Martin is trading her early mornings and daily headlines to develop an NPR project in the realms of religion, spirituality, and meaning. She is stepping away from daily hosting but she will continue to be heard on the NPR newsmagazines as the project takes shape. She will also continue to host Up First Sunday.
Rachel is an essential part of the lives of millions of people who wake up to her journalism every week. Audiences who have loved listening to her will continue to hear her in this exciting next chapter.
Rachel notes:
Hosting Morning Edition has been the honor of a lifetime. To have spent six years helping our listeners understand what is happening around the world and in their communities is an experience I will never take for granted. I am so indebted to my co-hosts and the rest of my Morning Edition teammates, past and present, who made me better at this work. I want to especially thank the producers and editors who put this show on day in and day out, through difficult stories and even more difficult overnight shifts. None of it is possible without you. Thanks for always having my back. Thanks for being my second and third pair of eyes and ears. Thank you for bringing your ideas and your bad puns. Thank you also to the hundreds of member station hosts, and all the journalists who bring Morning Edition to air all across the country. I have loved working with you. And to our audience, thank you for letting me into your lives through this show. I'm not going far - and I'm sticking around as the host of Up First Sunday - but I am hoping to go deep for a new project where we ask the biggest kinds of questions about how we live our lives and where we find meaning. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I'm so grateful to be a small part of the Morning Edition legacy.
From VP for News Programming Eric Marrapodi and Interim SVP of News and Editorial Director Edith Chapin's note to staff:
Rachel's accomplishments at NPR are many, and we are thrilled her award-winning tenure at NPR will continue in this next chapter. She is adding to her wide range of experiences at NPR, which include hosting Weekend Edition Sunday, serving as National Security Correspondent, an international correspondent, and NPR's religion correspondent. Spirituality, religion, and meaning have been a throughline in all of this work, and guiding forces for her, personally.
Listen to some Rachel Martin "driveway moments"
There are many examples of the remarkable work Rachel has done during her time hosting Morning Edition. She's brought audiences stories on howthe opioid crisis in Ohio was affecting kids and a deeply moving series on separation, loss, and grief in the pandemic; covered disinformation after January 6; reported from Ukrainein February 2022 as the country prepared for war; interviewed then-candidate Biden on the campaign trail; and brought audiences a remarkable interview with Bono, on faith.
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