Western North Carolina rural communities

Gerard Albert

Gerard Albert

Gerard Albert III covers rural communities in Western North Carolina at Blue Ridge Public Radio. Before joining Report for America, Albert worked at WLRN in South Florida reporting on affordable housing, law enforcement, and local government accountability in Broward County. There, he won multiple state and national awards for his coverage of the Parkland school shooter death penalty trial. His work has been featured on NPR, Here & Now and the BBC. Previously, he reported on the criminal justice system in Palm Beach and South Carolina, where he won state-wide awards for his reporting on police policies. Albert started his journalism career at Florida International University’s student-run newspaper. He became Editor in Chief his senior year and earned state-wide awards for his investigation into the university spending millions of dollars on palm trees from a shady dealer. In Florida, he spends most weekends knee-deep in the Everglades and looks forward to exploring trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains. When not outdoors, he enjoys reading, writing poetry, and perfecting the sugar-to-coffee ratio for his coladas.

Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

Blue Ridge Public Radio exists to provide Western North Carolinians with a deeper understanding of one another and the world, by being an essential, independent source of news and cultural content. The most-listened to radio station in the Asheville, NC market, Blue Ridge Public Radio is the NPR affiliate for the region. We provide public media service to 650,000 people through digital platforms and two radio stations–BPR News and BPR Classic–across a 13-county region in the Blue Ridge Mountains.