6/16/09 (Des Moines) - Iowa Public Radio's daily news/talk program The Exchange won a national award for journalism excellence from the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI) during its annual conference on June 13 in Portland, OR. The second place award was for a call-in program examining Karl Rove's visit to Iowa City.
"We are fortunate to be recognized with several state and regional awards each year," said IPR news director Jonathan Ahl. "We are especially honored to receive this award because we competed against other strong public radio stations in places including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago. This is affirmation that the journalists in our news department rank amongst the best public radio journalists in the country."
IPR's talk show team includes Greg Shanley, Jeff Schmidt, Katherine Perkins, John Pemble, Julie Englander, and Ben Kieffer, host of The Exchange.
"Journalistically, Karl Rove coming to Iowa City created a perfect storm, and it offered us much more than just a juicy confrontation. Now, as we look back at the pivotal role that Iowa played in the 2008 campaign, you see why Rove's visit and the reaction it sparked was a significant event," said Kieffer.
The Exchange is heard on the Iowa Public Radio News network weekdays at 10 a.m.
Iowa Public Radio informs, enriches and engages Iowans through radio programming and other media. Iowa Public Radio includes the WOI Radio Group (Iowa State University, Ames), KUNI-KHKE (University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls), and KSUI-WSUI (University of Iowa, Iowa City).
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