SHIRLEY JAHAD

213-725-8086
sjahad@gmail.com

REPORTER / PRODUCER /ANCHOR

• Host/Executive Producer special program airing on KCRW, WBEZ and other public
radio stations - “Divided States: Efforts to Pull Together When Things Fall Apart”
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/news-special-programming/divided-states-qanon-history-aapi-
music

• Host/Executive Producer of podcast - “The Listening Well: Living and Grieving in a Time
of Covid 19” featuring audio documentaries on grief, the epidemic of loneliness and more.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/journeying-through-grief/id1520298383?i=1000479641631

• Producer National PBS television program - Tavis Smiley Show. Pitch segment ideas,
research issues, craft segments and select guests. I produced segments on how political
rhetoric penetrates the brain, in particular the rhetorical style of Donald Trump; child brain
development; long term effects of toxic stress and trauma; obesity and food insecurity; gun
violence and suicide as a public health issue; Nobel Prize winning economists; the
campaign against expertise and scientific knowledge and more.

• Anchor/Reporter - KPCC-FM, Southern California Public Media  

• Anchor, write and produce newscasts during morning drive, afternoon drive and
weekends at most listened to public radio station in Southern California
• Interview newsmakers or reporters live or taped on breaking news or feature stories
• Use social media to deliver news, engage audience, promote upcoming stories/
shows, and drive traffic to website
• Report, write, edit, voice award-winning breaking news and longer feature stories

• Audio Documentary Producer, Writer, Reporter – award winning long form narrative
stories for broadcast on KPCC, WBEZ and nationally on NPR

• “Picture Me Rollin” - We follow a young African American man as he tells his story
in his own voice. He is “standing at the cross roads” looking for work, choosing
between “the crimey route” and the “straight and narrow.” This national Robert F.
Kennedy Award-winning narrative offers a rare opportunity to actually hear the
voice of a young African American man sharing his own story.
• “Dreaming in Farsi” takes listeners inside Iran to see life beyond the narrow view
given in most news coverage.
• “Asthma: A Deadly Concern” on why doctors are seeing a rise in asthma deaths
particularly among African American and Latino young people even while
treatments are improving.
 • “From the Ashes” tells the story of Chicago’s West Side after the death of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. sparked fiery riots and the efforts decades later toward community
redevelopment.
• “Gun Dealing: The Thin Line Between the Store and the Street” we take listeners to
the places where guns are sold — inside gun shows, gun stores, kitchen table
dealers, with straw buyers. And explore gun violence as a public health issue.

TELEVISION / VIDEO / DOCUMENTARY

Iranian Diaspora 40 years After the Iranian Revolution and Hostage Crisis
• Lead Interviewer for 2019 web video series featuring oral histories; stories of
displacement, trauma, re-invention.

“Planet LA” 
• Voice over on KTLA documentary about the history of Los Angeles

Fidel Castro – “Declassified” program on History Channel

• Writer of hour-long documentary on Fidel Castro surviving many, varied assassination
attempts

Correspondent/producer WTTW, Chicago Public Television

• Report, write, produce 3-5minute television feature stories for evening news program
“Chicago Tonight,” a local version of the PBS News Hour.

News Analyst/Panelist
• PBS TV programs ‘Chicago Week in Review’ and ‘Chicago Tonight’

FELLOWSHIPS

International Reporting Fellow, International Center for Journalists

• Travel to Uganda and Tanzania in 2012 to bring home stories of China’s growing influence
in Africa and efforts to mine rare earth minerals used in production of cell phones.

NPR Diversity Fellow / temporary reporter Washington DC

• Covering arts, culture, politics - stories include the Muslim vote in the 2000 presidential
election; reaction following the disputed results of 2000 presidential election; President
Bush’s faith-based initiative; profile of Egyptian performing icon Umm Kulthum-described
as a combination of Ella Fitzgerald, Eleanor Roosevelt and Elvis; profile of US Attorney
General John Ashcroft; Latinos in the US converting to Islam
AWARDS

• Robert F. Kennedy Award for best national documentary

• National Associated Press Award for best documentary
• National Associated Press Award of Excellence for best overall in both television and
radio
• Studs Terkel Media Award, for coverage of under-served communities
• LA Press Club Awards - for breaking news anchoring; and hosting entertainment
segment
• Chicago Press Club Awards - best science reporting; best arts reporting; best public
service reporting
• National Unity Awards for best political story; best economic story
• Illinois Associated Press Awards
• Women in Communications Best Radio Documentary
• Changing Worlds Media Award for coverage of diverse communities

TEACHING/MENTORING
USC Journalism Professor, Adjunct Fall 2016 – present
• Teach graduate and undergraduate courses in audio documentary and news writing/
reporting including social media training, building news judgement, critical thinking,
interviewing skills, story development.

CORO Public Affairs Fellows, Supervisor   2004-2014

• Mentor and supervise fellows each year as they learn about media, news production and
leadership. Fellows placed with me from three weeks to two months to learn about and
gain exposure to journalism ethics and social responsibilities.

BOARD WORK / LEADERSHIP

STUDS TERKEL RADIO ARCHIVE 2016 - present

• Current Member of National Advisory Board
LEVITT PAVILION   2010-2013
• Member of the Board of Directors of nonprofit with a mission to build community by
offering “Free music under the stars” presenting high-quality, outdoor concerts. Diverse
audiences of thousands gather for shows at beautiful, historic pavilions.

EDUCATION
• Northwestern University BSJ Medill School of Journalism