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<< Previous   of   Next >> Ken Schles Photo  (click to enlarge) Emmy Award-winning journalist John Hockenberry will speak at KSER radio's Voices of Our Community Gala on Saturday at Everett Community College.   ADVERTISEMENT   KSER's gala John Hockenberry, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and host of KSER radio's “The Takeaway” morning show, will speak at the KSER Voices of Our Community Gala at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Parks Student Union Building at Everett Community College, 2000 Tower St., Everett. The event will include presentation of the KSER Voice of the Community Award. Tickets are $25 and include a dessert buffet. Order tickets at www.kser.org or call 425-303-9070.   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, November 6, 2009 Journalist John Hockenberry aims for good and bad By Julie Muhlstein Herald Writer John Hockenberry's aim every day is to start conversations. “The mission for us is a story with things to talk about, good or bad,” the 53-year-old Emmy Award-winning journalist said Wednesday. No kidding, good or bad. On Thursday's edition of “The Takeaway,” a morning news program Hockenberry hosts for about 60 public radio stations around the country, topics included the surprising health benefits of playing video games, Maine's rejection of gay marriage, and Anthony Sowell, a registered sex offender whose Ohio home was discovered to be a burial ground for at least 10 people. “It's a basic newscast with stuff to talk about,” Hockenberry said of the program airing 8 to 9:30 a.m. weekdays on KSER, 90.7 FM, Snohomish County's independent station. Hockenberry spoke Wednesday from New York, where “The Takeaway” is based at WNYC. This weekend, his Snohomish County listeners have a chance to hear him in person. Hockenberry is scheduled to speak at the KSER Voices of Our Community Gala, a fundraising event starting at 7 p.m. Saturday at Everett Community College. The station will present its Voice of the Community Award and recognize finalists at the gala. In 2008, the first year for the award, KSER honored Marilyn Rosenberg, owner of Zippy's Java Lounge. Her Everett coffee shop doubles as a venue for free community events. The gala will also include a fun introduction to the station's new program, “Sound Living.” The local public affairs show at 3 p.m. Fridays is supported by a two-year, $70,000 grant from the Boeing Co., said Brenda Mann Harrison, a member of KSER's board of directors. With Hockenberry, Saturday's gala has an A-list media star. Although his career started in public radio, at KLCC in Eugene, Ore., and he again has a home on public airwaves, Hockenberry is well known from network television's “Dateline NBC” and ABC News. During his network years, he earned four Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Casey Medal, according to his biography on “The Takeaway” Web site. For “Dateline,” he landed an interview with the brother of two hijackers in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Hockenberry has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times and many other publications, and is author of “A River Out of Eden,” a novel with the Columbia River central to its plot. He is also paralyzed from the chest down and uses a wheelchair. That's been a fact of his life since he was 19, and was injured in a car accident as an Oregon college student. Disabled but not defined by disability, Hockenberry said Wednesday that being “a mascot for the disability experience is just absurd to me.” That said, he is happy to encourage others. “If there is any role model about my life, it's to try something,” Hockenberry said. In 2005, he took on Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby,” in which an injured boxer's life is ended by euthanasia. After writing a piece critical of the movie's premise, he appeared in a short documentary, “Million Dollar Bigot.” Personally, Hockenberry is a busy father. He and his wife have two sets of twins, ages 11 and 8, with a new baby due in December. He's up for work by 2 a.m. and home by noon. With high stakes in the survival of broadcast and print media in an online world, Hockenberry said we're seeing something akin to the revolution brought on ages ago by the printing press. “The place to look for hope is the music industry,” he said. From song downloads to Beatles Rock Band, money is being made via new musical experiences. “Record companies may go away, but the music hasn't stopped,” Hockenberry said. In an Internet age, he said, “the process has just begun.” Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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