Long-time NPR Newscaster Craig Windham passed away suddenly yesterday. The NPR obit linked below has a copy of him anchoring a newscast as recently as last Friday.
Craig spent many years working Fri-Sat-Sun afternoon/evening shifts on NPR.
When Carl Kassell stepped away from his M-W anchoring duties, he was the surprising choice to replace Carl not just on the M-W newscasts, but Paul Brown who held down the Th-Fri newscasts as well.
After about a year on the Morning Edition newscasts, Craig and Paul Brown swapped roles, with Craig Windham becoming the "live" reporter from the newscast unit to cover breaking stories before the rest of the NPR machine (which generally doesn't do breaking stories very well) could get wound up.
He was occasionally heard filling in on a newscast as anchor here and there, but for the last five years was mostly heard in the reporter role.
In all the newscasts and reports I heard him deliver, i never once heard him flub a line. His voice was clear, tone even and reasoned, and with his commercial radio background, provide a slightly more professional newscast than some of the public radio lifers at NPR. The only knock... his voice and tone was so clear, it was sometimes a little bland, even for NPR.
He survived the buyouts that claimed the heart of the newscast unit over the last few years (Paul Brown, Jean Cochrane, Nora Raum, etc), even as he worked past retirement age.
And then, in just a blink of an eye, he was gone.
Washington Post Coverage:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...22aa04-df12-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html
NPR Obit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...22aa04-df12-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html
Craig spent many years working Fri-Sat-Sun afternoon/evening shifts on NPR.
When Carl Kassell stepped away from his M-W anchoring duties, he was the surprising choice to replace Carl not just on the M-W newscasts, but Paul Brown who held down the Th-Fri newscasts as well.
After about a year on the Morning Edition newscasts, Craig and Paul Brown swapped roles, with Craig Windham becoming the "live" reporter from the newscast unit to cover breaking stories before the rest of the NPR machine (which generally doesn't do breaking stories very well) could get wound up.
He was occasionally heard filling in on a newscast as anchor here and there, but for the last five years was mostly heard in the reporter role.
In all the newscasts and reports I heard him deliver, i never once heard him flub a line. His voice was clear, tone even and reasoned, and with his commercial radio background, provide a slightly more professional newscast than some of the public radio lifers at NPR. The only knock... his voice and tone was so clear, it was sometimes a little bland, even for NPR.
He survived the buyouts that claimed the heart of the newscast unit over the last few years (Paul Brown, Jean Cochrane, Nora Raum, etc), even as he worked past retirement age.
And then, in just a blink of an eye, he was gone.
Washington Post Coverage:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...22aa04-df12-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html
NPR Obit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...22aa04-df12-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html