About Us

MQ2 is an initiative of the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), an extensive social and professional network of leading audio producers and associates from across the US and the world. AIR celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

This pilot project was launched in September 2008 with principal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) with the aim of turning to producers to help lead public radio in its transition to public media. The first round of MQ2 disbursed $400,000 to 8 selected producers and sound artists exploring new approaches to producing for traditional broadcast as well as new digital platforms. MQ2 also matched selected projects with “incubators” – radio stations and network programs.

To view the 2008 MQ2 projects click here.

See the project FAQ for information about the nomination and selection process, and the timeline. To pull back the curtain and learn more about who's pulling the levers at AIR, go here.

MQ2 Talent Manager

Julie Drizin, Talent Manager (as of July 1, 2009), Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0

2009 marks the 25th year of Julie Drizin’s career in public radio. She got “hooked on radiophonics” at WXPN-FM in Philadelphia, where she garnered many awards as News and Public Affairs Director. After a stint as an independent producer, she moved to Washington, DC at the dawn of the Clinton Era, to become News Director and later National Bureau Chief for Pacifica Radio. There, she launched and produced the successful “Democracy Now!” Julie was the founding Senior Producer of NPR’s “Justice Talking” and “The Intersection,” a multicultural regional news-talk experiment at WETA-FM. Most recently she was Assistant Director at J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, where she helped manage an annual award for innovation, an intensive on journalism and gaming, and two competitive funding streams: the New Voices citizen media project and the New Media Women’s Entrepreneur initiative. She was a judge in the Public Radio Talent Quest and a finalist in launch round of AIR's Makers Quest 2.0 initiative. Throughout her career, she has trained, edited, nurtured and learned a great deal from independent producers and freelance reporters around the world. She is jazzed to inherit the role of Talent Manager for MQ2.

Ingrid Lakey, Talent Manager (September 1, 2008 - July 1, 2009), Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0

Lakey
Ingrid has made her career in public radio, working in many different capacities on the local and national levels. She was a board operator and corporate support representative at WXXI in Rochester, New York. Working at NPR marketing programs to stations gave Ingrid an understanding of programming philosophies and strategies. Her job at NPR led her to WETA, where she was the radio pledge producer and later program director. While at WETA, she also co-created and executive produced a local arts program. Most recently, she served as producer then executive producer for NPR’s Justice Talking, a program that relied extensively on the work of independent producers. Ingrid’s role as talent manager for the Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0 will continue through August 2009. Read an article from Ingrid about the project.

Producer of Community Engagement

Katina Parker, Producer of Community Engagement

Katina Parker is MQ2’s new Producer of Community of Engagement, where she will lend her expertise in new media, viral distribution and on-line community building. Parker also serves as Executive Director for New Orleans: A Labor of Love, a social networking community committed to recruiting volunteers and resources for the Gulf Coast. Prior to creating New Orleans: A Labor of Love, Parker worked as a visual artist in Los Angeles, where her body of work encompassed film and magazine writing, directing and producing; graphic/web design; and photography. Her clients included Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Saul Williams and Cody ChesnuTT. She also spent several years working as a Media Strategist for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), where she fine-tuned her public relations and communications savvy. Parker received her M.F.A. in Film Production from the University of Southern California and her B.A. in Speech Communications from Wake Forest University. Previously, she has been mentored by Inaugural Poet Maya Angelou, Poetry Legend Sonia Sanchez, Emmy Award-winning documentarian Alan Berliner, and Veteran sitcom Director Peter Bonerz.

MQ2 Talent Committee

Davar Iran Ardalan, Senior Supervisory Producer, Weekend Morning Programming, NPR

Ardalan
With more than 17 years’ experience in public broadcasting, Davar is responsible for producing Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon and Weekend Edition Sunday with Liane Hansen. Davar is also the creative force behind Soapbox, the online blog component to Weekend Edition. Prior to taking over Weekend Edition, she worked as a supervisory producer on Morning Edition, the No. 1-rated morning radio program in the United States. Davar’s career in the American media began in 1991 at KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. A year later, she made the switch to radio as a reporter at KUNM-FM in Albuquerque. She joined NPR in 1993 as a temporary production assistant. In April 2002, Davar and NPR's Jacki Lyden received a Gracie Award from the American Women in Radio and Television for the NPR documentary "Loss and Its Aftermath," the story of Israeli and Palestinian parents speaking about the deaths of their children in the conflict. Find out more about Davar here.

Anna Bensted, Assistant Program Director/Executive Producer of Special Projects, WBUR

Anna Bensted

As assistant program director of WBUR, Anna spends a lot of her time helping out wherever she can with the station's general output, from overseeing the new local program to pronouncing "chocolate" in a way that seems to work for the Valentine on-air fundraising. Anna found her calling while working as a volunteer at a type of radio station perhaps unique to the UK: hospital radio. Deciding that she needed to get into some real radio-making, Anna trained at the BBC and began work there in 1983. In 1995, Anna relocated to the United States. Settling in Boston, she continued her work for BBC Radio as a producer and interviewer, developing and producing three six-part series about the U.S. Anna joined WBUR in Boston in 1999, serving first as managing editor for daily news before becoming executive producer of Inside Out, WBUR's award-winning current affairs documentary series. Find out more about Anna here.

Peter Clowney, Executive Producer, American Public Media’s Weekend America

Clowney

Peter's entire professional career has been in public radio. But he's happy about that. He got his start in 1993, cutting tape at Fresh Air in his hometown of Philadelphia. Since then, he's been a reporter, editor, and producer for a succession of fantastic shows. Peter was one of the first producers at This American Life — one of the group winning the Peabody Award in 1996. As senior editor at PRI's Studio 360, he won another Peabody in 2004 for his writing and editing of American Icons: Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Right before coming to Weekend America, Peter was a senior editor at another American Public Media program, Marketplace. Peter was also a mid-career fellow in 1999–2000 at the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. His experience as an arts reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia has helped him coordinate American Public Media's "Artists Initiative," of which Weekend America is a substantial part. Find out more about Peter and Weekend America here.

Kenneth Goldsmith, Poet, Author and radio host, WFMU

Kenneth Goldsmith
Kenneth's writing has been called "some of the most exhaustive and beautiful collage work yet produced in poetry" by Publishers Weekly. Kenneth is the author of ten books of poetry, founding editor of the online archive UbuWeb (ubu.com), and the editor of I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews, which was the basis for an opera, "Trans-Warhol," that premiered in Geneva in March of 2007. An hour-long documentary on his work, "sucking on words: Kenneth Goldsmith" premiered at the British Library in 2007. Kenneth is the host of a weekly radio show on New York City's WFMU. He teaches writing at The University of Pennsylvania, where he is a senior editor of PennSound, an online poetry archive. A book of critical essays, Uncreative Writing, is forthcoming from Columbia University Press. Learn more about Kenneth here.

Maxie C. Jackson III, Senior Director, Program Development, New York Public Radio (WNYC)

Jackson

As senior director of program development, Maxie is involved in strategic planning for national and local programming, outreach and audience development efforts, and new media and marketing initiatives. He is intimately involved in the launch of The Takeaway and is currently developing a new daily culture and news radio magazine for WNYC. Maxie has served on national (CPB, PRX, NPR, BBC, and PRI) committees that have had an impact on public radio funding, technology, recruitment, and programming. Recently, he served as a judge for the Public Radio Talent Quest. Currently, he is a member of the DEI Board of Directors, Eastern Region Public Media’s Executive Board, and Public Radio International’s (PRI) Program Director Advisory Group. Before joining WNYC, he served as WETA’s program director of radio. Before joining WETA in January 2005, Maxie served as acting general manager of WEAA in Baltimore, Maryland. Learn more about Maxie and WNYC here.

Julia McEvoy, Senior Editor, Education and Urban Affairs, Chicago Public Radio

McEvoy

As senior editor of Chicago Public Radio’s education and urban affairs desk, Julia is responsible for in-depth coverage of education and religion issues affecting the region. Julia joined Chicago Public Radio in 1986 on a freelance basis, later becoming a documentary producer and then associate producer of Chicago Matters. During Julia’s tenure as executive producer of Chicago Matters, the series received numerous awards, including a Peabody Award, a Peter Lisagor Award for “Best In-Depth Reporting,” an Edward R. Murrow Award for “Best Documentary in a Large Market,” and a Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) Award for “Best Series.” Prior to joining Chicago Public Radio, Julia worked as a freelance reporter for NPR, Marketplace, and Latino USA. Listen to Julia's work here.

Viki Merrick, Associate Director, Transom

Viki was a radio producer and production coordinator for ABC News in Rome, Italy, and location/production manager for film documentaries. Since the founding of Atlantic Public Media in 1995, she has been producing essays and features for national broadcast on NPR and for the Cape and Island public radio station WCAI. Viki is the senior editor on the Peabody Award-winning Web site Transom.org and a collaborator on two Peabody Award-winning series Lost & Found Sound and The Sonic Memorial Project. More recently, she is the senior editor on the NPR series This I Believe. Listen to Viki's work here.

Robynn Takayama, Independent Radio Producer

Takayama

Robynn is an award-winning radio producer who has produced for Day to Day, Artery, Justice Talking, Latino USA, Pacific Time, Making Contact, and the Peabody-awarded documentary "Crossing East." Her art projects have been presented through video, Web, and gallery installation in San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Chicago. She is a founding member of Webzine '98, a celebration of independent content online; a board member of the Association of Independents in Radio; and an advisory member to Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multidisciplinary, Asian American, community arts organization in the country. Visit Robynn's blog here.