RADIO / PODCAST

Samantha Watson

Samantha is thrilled to continue her position at KYUK's newsroom as a Report for America corps member. On the Y-K Delta, her love for radio has deepened while gathering audio in English and the Native Yup'ik language as part of a bilingual news team. Prior to joining KYUK's newsroom, Samantha interned at Vermont Public where she fell in love with audio storytelling following the legacy of a hot air balloon artist. She holds a graduate certificate in audio documentary from the the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies where she learned how to really listen. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Vermont and loves to write poetry and creative nonfiction outside of the newsroom.

Elijah de Castro

Elijah de Castro reports on health disparities for WAER, Syracuse Public Media. Prior to WAER, he was the health reporter at The Keene Sentinel, where he led the Monadnock Region Health Reporting Lab, a newsroom journalism project focused on investigative and solutions journalism about New Hampshire’s health care system. Previously, he was a climate fellow at the Solutions Journalism Network and a Report for America corps member in South Carolina, where he was on the rural communities beat covering issues like systemic poverty and gun violence in rural Allendale County. He got his start in journalism as News Editor of The Ithacan, the student newsroom of Ithaca College, where he graduated in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an avid player of pool and ping pong.

Colin Tiernan

Before joining CT Insider, Tiernan worked on his family’s farm in Connecticut. And before that, he spent six years at papers out West. He’s covered every beat at one time or another. Tiernan is conversationally fluent in Spanish, a tenacious defender in pick-up basketball and a mediocre-but-passionate wildlife photographer.

Theo Greenly

Theo Greenly reports on Southern Oregon coastal communities for Jefferson Public Radio. Before that, he spent five years reporting from Alaska’s Bering Sea, where he chased stories by boat, helicopter, and, once, Jet Ski. He began as an RFA corps member at KUCB in Unalaska in 2021. After serving a full three years, he remained in the Aleutian Islands as a regional reporter for Alaska Public Media. His reporting has earned multiple honors, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of Indigenous language revitalization in the Pribilof Islands and several awards from the Alaska Press Club. His work has appeared on Marketplace, Science Friday and NPR. Greenly began his public radio career at KCRW in Santa Monica after studying journalism at Santa Monica College and graduating from the Transom Storytelling Workshop. When he is not reporting, he is usually hiking or playing guitar.

WAER Syracuse Public Media

WAER Public Media, founded at Syracuse University in 1947 as one of the nation's first educational FM stations, serves Central New York with trusted news, music, and sports coverage. A commercial-free, listener-supported NPR affiliate, WAER is housed within the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and provides professional training for emerging journalists and broadcasters. Its mission is to enlighten, engage, and entertain the community while fostering informed citizenship and lifelong learning.

The Journal

The Journal is a growing nonprofit, nonpartisan news site published by the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita, Kansas. It focuses on in-depth and solutions reporting about community issues. The full-time team includes an editor, staff reporter and an engagement manager. It works closely with experienced freelancers plus Wichita’s journalism collaborative and Documenters program. The Journal's reporting, particularly its investigative work, has won honors from the Institute for Nonprofit News and the Kansas Press Association.

100 Days in Appalachia

100 Days in Appalachia is a nonprofit newsroom that exists to detail the complex ecosystem that makes up the Appalachian region by weaving beats, including culture, health, religion, politics, environment, and tech across generations. We’re here to amplify the region’s diverse voices, celebrate our successes, investigate our failures and empower our communities – and help other newsrooms do the same.

The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Oregonian is the oldest continuously operating business in the state and among the most highly recognized news organizations in the United States. Our work has earned eight Pulitzer Prizes, including the Gold Medal for Public Service, the highest accolade in journalism. Our reporting has been recognized by the Investigative Reporters and Editors, the National Headliners competition, and many other professional organizations.

Bridge Michigan

Since 2011, Bridge Michigan has pursued a mission of making Michigan better through high-quality, nonpartisan journalism and engagement. Bridge Michigan provides in-depth coverage of state government and how its policies affect people’s lives, with an emphasis on politics, education, health, business, data and the environment. In 2025, Bridge Michigan introduced two regional newsletters, offering readers localized reporting on the issues and stories most relevant to their communities.

The Santa Fe New Mexican/The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund/Searchlight New Mexico

The Santa Fe New Mexican is locally owned and independent with statewide influence on public-policy coverage. The New Mexican is the oldest newspaper in the state. The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund is fiscally sponsored by the New Mexico Foundation. The fund’s mission is cradle-to-grave accountability storytelling of public-policy issues. Searchlight New Mexico is a statewide investigative news nonprofit focused on high-impact journalism and an initiative of The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund.