Longtime staff member Joe Zupan passed away in March 2014 after a long illness. Joe was a fixture during the first 20 years of KPBX. He was one of the first interns chosen (from EWU). His 'velvet tones' and love of music made him an excellent jazz host. He became an award-winning reporter after getting advice that the only way to have a future in public radio is to go into news or management. "No way I was going into management" he told the Program Guide in 1999.
He sent KPBX wonderful letters and postcards from his two-year Peace Corps mission in the South Pacific. When he returned to Spokane in 1997, his old job as local host of All Things Considered had JUST reopened.
When he prepared to leave KPBX for good in 1999, he said, "The staff here is like family -- it's corny but true." We can't really believe we've lost a member of that family. We want to just think he's off having another adventure.