About Where We Live

“[Where We Live] takes a news story and spins it into universal connections for listeners.  This program is an inspiring example of how talk programs can take the ordinary and make it extraordinary.”  -Public Radio News Directors, Inc. honoring Where We Live with a national award as “Best Call-in Show” 

What This Is

This is the blog for the WNPR news/talk show Where We Live, heard weekdays 9-10 a.m. and 7-8 p.m.  ET.  This is where you’ll get updates on what’s coming up on the show, and occasional items from our producers and host.

We’re a talk show about where we live…in Connecticut, in the Northeast, in the U.S. and on the planet.  We welcome phone calls to our show at (860) 275-7266, emails at wherewelive@wnpr.org and tweets @wherewelive.  Listen for archives of the show or stream us live on our homepage, and visit us on Facebook.

Who We Are

Host - John Dankosky

John is News Director of WNPR and Host of Where We Live.  He started working in radio at WDUQ Pittsburgh in 1988, and has spent most of his career in public media.

Since coming to Connecticut in 1994, he’s helped to build WNPR’s award-winning newsroom – cultivating one of the most talented news staffs in public radio. He has reported for NPR on politics, economic redevelopment, drug crime, assisted suicide, tribal recognition, immigration and a surprising number of stories about sports.  He’s also worked as an editor at NPR in Washington, and as a fill-in host for NPR’s Science Friday in New York.

John has won national and local awards for his reporting, and Where We Live has twice been honored by PRNDI as public radio’s “Best Call-In” Show.   He’s also won awards for editing nationally distributed documentaries on care for the chronically ill, the evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11, and the mental health of children.

In 2010, John accepted an appointment as the Robert C. Vance Endowed Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication at Central Connecticut State University, having previously served as an adjunct journalism professor at Quinnipiac University.  He has hosted countless political debates, along with live panel discussions for The Connecticut Forum, the Mark Twain House and Museum and The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

John is a native of Pittsburgh who tells anyone he meets about the Steelers, the Pirates, the Penguins, The Andy Warhol Museum and Primanti Brothers sandwiches.  He lives in Winsted with his wife Jennifer, and cat, Dirk.

“The opportunity to…have a detailed conversation and hold people accountable for what they say, and what they do, and what they profess is something that we as a democracy can’t afford to lose.” -Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy talking about Where We Live

Senior Producer – Catie Talarski

Catie Talarski is senior producer of Where We Live, the morning news program on WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio.

She got her start in documentary radio at the Salt Institute in Portland Maine, and works hard to balance her love of talk radio and storytelling. Catie has produced several PRNDI award-winning programs on Where We Live, including coverage of Sexual Assault on College Campuses, Gender Identity, and Childrens Television.

Catie’s also documented end-of-life decisions made by young people with Cystic Fibrosis for NPR’s Hearing Voices, dug into archival tape of artist Romare Bearden for Studio 360, and covered the fast-paced worlds of lawnmower racing for NPR and collegiate squash for PRI’s The World. She worked with the Public Radio Exchange to produce the hour-long youth special BULLIED: Teen Stories from Generation PRX.  Her foray into magazine writing includes an article about her Polish heritage published in SilverKris, the in-flight magazine of Singapore Airlines.

Catie was inspired by Third Coast and others to create live events to build community around radio. She launched *the ear cave* – a listening session hosted by a rotating cast of local radio professionals held at a coffeehouse in Hartford. And her “Radio Adventure Theater” is an experimental variety show that combines live music, theater, poetry and documentary radio.

“Thanks for keeping intelligent talk on the radio – what you do is sure a model for America.” -Susan Herbst, President, University of Connecticut

Producer – Tucker Ives

Tucker Ives is a producer for Where We Live and WNPR’s Morning Edition. Also known as the “perpetual intern,” Tucker started at WNPR in 2009. Two years later, he was officially hired but will still respond if you say, “Hey intern!”

Tucker graduated from Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communication in 2011 where he started working for WICB‘s news department. During his internship with WNPR, he worked on Where We Live and the Colin McEnroe Show in addition to reporting for the morning and evening newscasts. He helped produce the 2010 PRNDI-award winning episode of Where We Live, called The ABC’s of Kid’s TV.

He grew up in Marlborough, Connecticut and is a proud former video production nerd from RHAM High School.

“Look at  your program…you tap into the talent in Connecticut.  Where We Live!” - Ralph Nader, Consumer advocate, author