Spokane Public Radio Staff & Hosts

Rachel Bade-McMurphy is a musician, composer, and arts advocate spawned in the Pacific Northwest. She studied Music and Humanities at Washington State University and received her Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy from Eastern Washington University. A passionate teacher and jazz enthusiast, she founded Imagine Jazz, a local arts organization that hosts guest artists from New York and around the globe for concerts and educational events. Her new show “Dimensions in Jazz” will explore many eras and sub-genres of jazz threading the many layers of this complex and rich art music.

Aiden Cook is a part-time board operator on Sunday’s for KPBX. He’s also a current student at Eastern Washington University and current DJ at KEWU 89.5. He hopes to use these opportunities in radio to grow in music and learn more about the great community in the Inland Northwest.

Debbie joined Spokane Public Radio in 2022. She has a degree in Business Administration – Accounting from Eastern Washington University. Debbie has lived in Spokane over 40 years. In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her family.

As a native of Coeur d’ Alene, ID, Karin grew up on SPR. She ecstatically explored radio broadcasting during university at the Princeton-affiliated public radio station WPBR and was awestruck to interview leading writers, politicians and scientists for the nationally syndicated “American Focus” public affairs interview program. While academic research and management consulting took her across the country and around Europe, she is delighted to return to the Inland Northwest and the SPR listening community. When not at the station, Karin loves to witness storytelling (at the theatre, via a Spokane Symphony concert, on a spoken word stage . . .) and is busy writing her own stories.

After listening to KPBX in the car as a child, combing through the annual record sales as a teenager, and volunteering at the pledge drives as an adult, Cassia officially joined the SPR family as a receptionist on Halloween 2018. She now works as part of the station’s business team.

One of the original Jazz hosts for KPBX, Mike Grabicki, will be returning to hosting the Tuesday night Jazz Show on KPBX. Mike produced and hosted jazz shows on KPBX for over a decade and for several years worked as a Jazz Host and producer on KEWU-FM. He owned Mirage Records and Tapes in the 1980's and 1990's here in Spokane and produced many jazz concerts including Diane Schuur and Pat Metheny. Mike has an extensive Jazz music collection of albums and CD's and he will be sharing music covering the entire history Jazz.

Anna Gyure is a Spokane resident and a graduate of Gonzaga University’s dance program. In addition to working for Spokane Public Radio, she works for Gonzaga’s Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center as a Production Assistant and Programmer. During her free time, she dances with two professional companies: Vytal Movement Dance in Spokane and Ripple Dance Company in Coeur d’Alene. She also enjoys other art forms including music and photography, both of which she has won awards for. Anna is looking forward to expanding her knowledge of the workings of public radio, and hopes to be able to apply that knowledge to her artistic endeavors.

Brandon Hollingsworth is your All Things Considered host. He has served public radio audiences for fifteen years, primarily in reporting, hosting and interviewing. His previous ports-of-call were WUOT-FM in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Alabama Public Radio. His work has been heard nationally on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here and Now and NPR’s top-of-the-hour newscasts.

Stephanie joined Spokane Public Radio in 2003 as the part-time Volunteer Coordinator and Development Assistant. Currently she is the full-time Volunteer Manager and Events Coordinator overseeing Spokane Public Radio’s volunteer and internship programs, as well as working on details for events like the free KPBX Kids’ Concerts and the annual Record Sale. She loves working with our dedicated and diverse group of volunteers. In her spare time she enjoys volunteering in the community, traveling, walking her dog, and spending time with her family.

Steve was part of the Spokane Public Radio family for many years before he came on air in 1999. His wife, Laurie, produced Radio Ethiopia in the late 1980s through the '90s, and Steve used to “lurk in the shadowy world” of Weekend SPR. Steve has done various on air shifts at the station, including nearly 15 years as the local Morning Edition host. Currently, he is the voice of local weather and news during All Things Considerd, writing, editing, producing and/or delivering newscasts and features for both KPBX and KSFC. Aside from SPR, Steve ,who lives in the country, enjoys gardening, chickens, playing and listening to music, astronomy, photography, sports cars and camping.

Tom was a radio and TV news reporter after college then joined the City of Spokane for 31-years. Now semi-retired, he’s returned to his first love… radio.

Brian is a Spokane native who has been interested in sound technology ever since playing with a reel-to-reel deck as a kid. He learned radio broadcasting on KSFC, before it was part of Spokane Public Radio but still was part of the broadcasting program at Spokane Falls Community College. Brian also studied radio at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon, where he featured new age and fusion jazz on his own show. He admits that at heart he is a news junkie, which fits in well with his work Saturday mornings as regional host for NPR's Morning Edition.

Born and raised in Kennewick Washington, Brendan McMurphy has become a sought-after musician on both trumpet and drum set and can be seen performing regularly throughout the Spokane area. In addition to performance, Brendan is an active educator teaching at Spokane Falls Community College, Whitworth University, Spokane All-City Jazz and Holy Names Music Center. Brendan is also an avid jazz vinyl collector and audio enthusiast.

Henry McNulty is a Spokane native and proud member of the local professional arts community. A pianist and conductor, he has served as Resident Music Director of Spokane Civic Theatre since 2017 as well as having music-directed productions at Couer d'Alene Summer Theatre, Lake City Playhouse, Gonzaga University, and Eastern Washington University, among others. He has also appeared on several local stages in roles including Jerry Lee Lewis (Million Dollar Quartet) and the title role in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.

Jan Munstedt not only hosts the Monday evening Jazz program, but also spins classical tunes on Saturdays from 10am to noon.

One of the Northwest's most seasoned reporters is returning to his SPR roots. Doug Nadvornick will be heard frequently on KPBX and KSFC reporting on local news.

Leonard Oakland hosts a classical music program each week: Sunday Classics, which can be heard from from 10 a.m. – noon on KPBX.

Jerry Olson is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from the University of Cincinnati. In addition to his technical career, he is also a musician who has played tuba and bass trombone with the Berkeley (CA) Symphony and numerous other groups, including the Spokane Symphony. In a previous life, Jerry was a semiconductor engineer in Silicon Valley but in 1989, he and his family moved to Cheney in order to pursue a saner lifestyle. Results have been mixed ...

Ann joined Spokane Public Radio in 1995. She works with businesses and organizations to provide announcements on KPBX, KSFC and KPBZ. Ann has a degree in Public Relations from California State University, Chico. She previously worked in sales for United Airlines in Spokane, New York and Los Angeles. Ann likes traveling, growing flowers, and Nordic skiing.For more information about your business's announcement on Spokane Public Radio, please call her at (800) 328-5729.

Zan Agzigian is the Community Producer and Host of Soundspace. She has been with Spokane Public Radio since January 2014. Her passions are poetry, the environment, and alternative healing. Zan describes her careers as “a kitchen sink” explaining that she’s worked in a donut shop, bread delivery, public relations, as a bakery manager, a shuttle van driver, a bartender, an office manager, an arts advocate, a counselor, a fraud investigator, and a poet who absolutely loves music of many kinds.

Kevin Brown, a local musician and bluegrass enthusiast, has been hosting Front Porch Bluegrass on Spokane Public Radio since 2002. In the early 1980s at Whitworth College he spent most of his extracurricular time at the campus radio station, KWRS, where he served as Program Director and trained professor Leonard Oakland in his first radio show. Kevin never quite shook the radio bug after that, and several years later reached out to Leonard to get in the door at Spokane Public Radio.

Kevin Decker, Professor of Philosophy, was left holding the bag when Tony Flinn recently retired from Eastern Washington University. That bag was full of cats. At first, he thought they were cute, but then they woke up and started mauling him. It turned out that the cats were mountain lion cubs, often referred to incorrectly as “cougars.” One had rabies. From his now-permanent hospital bed, Kevin writes for and co-produces “Men in Charge,” the title of which may or may not be ironic

Tony Flinn, known around the model railroad track in his basement as “Professor of English, Emeritus,” recently retired from Eastern Washington University to age in place, like an old car up on blocks in the barn, convenient for climbing behind the wheel and saying “Vroom! Vroom!” He and his co-host and co-producer, Kevin Decker, have been writing and performing in “Men in Charge” since probably 2014, or even earlier, depending on whether you’re using the Julian or Gregorian calendar.

Brion Foster is a busy musician who performs with two local bands in Spokane. He brings over 30 years of radio experience to his program, The Downhome Blues Show.

When asked where he draws his inspiration for Johnson’s Improbable History of Pop, John had this to say, “I write and produce based on my interest in all forms of popular music. I've been listening to this "stuff" since in pre-school.” That seems to work well for John, who’s produced 625 shows since 1995. The show evolved out of an idea John had in December ’93. He did a few specials and the concept eventually gelled into the JIHOP of today. Outside of the studio, John recently retired from Boeing and enjoys golf, jogging and radio, especially the Saturday night lineup on KPBX. He and his wife Melinda have two daughters Korissa and Alicia, and 3 grandchildren.

An in-demand teacher, Michael maintains studios at Gonzaga University, Spokane Falls Community College, and North Idaho College, as well as nurturing a private studio. A regular soloist and ensemble player, he has been a featured performer for numerous regional festivals including the Northwest Guitar Festival, the Northwest Bach Festival, the Festival at Sandpoint (in concerto work with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra), and Northwest Folklife’s guitar showcase in McCaw hall, among others.

Kathy has been working with businesses and organizations in the Inland Northwest since 1992 to provide program underwriting on KPBX, KSFC, and KPBZ. Sackett was one of the original KPBX staff members working also as Operations Manager, Jazz Director and Events Director over the years.

Mary Pat joined the Movies 101 team in 2002. Along with husband, Dan Webster she discusses “recent film, favorite DVD selections, film festival offerings and other movie events” in the area. She spends her days as a Professor of Law at Gonzaga University and her free time traveling, reading and watching movies. Her favorite SPR programs are All Things Considered, Native American News, This American Life, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and “anything with Leonard Oakland.” She wants listeners to know that you can contact the Movies 101 crew anytime with your thoughts on film.

Coeur d'Alene bluesman, guitarist, and singer Jesse Warburton, a.k.a "Brother Music"

Dan Webster is a Blogger for Spokane7.com, who got seriously into movies back in his UC San Diego days. He is married to Movies 101 co-host Mary Pat Treuthart.

Aiden Cook is a part-time board operator on Sunday’s for KPBX. He’s also a current student at Eastern Washington University and current DJ at KEWU 89.5. He hopes to use these opportunities in radio to grow in music and learn more about the great community in the Inland Northwest.

Ann joined Spokane Public Radio in 1995. She works with businesses and organizations to provide announcements on KPBX, KSFC and KPBZ. Ann has a degree in Public Relations from California State University, Chico. She previously worked in sales for United Airlines in Spokane, New York and Los Angeles. Ann likes traveling, growing flowers, and Nordic skiing.For more information about your business's announcement on Spokane Public Radio, please call her at (800) 328-5729.

Anna Gyure is a Spokane resident and a graduate of Gonzaga University’s dance program. In addition to working for Spokane Public Radio, she works for Gonzaga’s Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center as a Production Assistant and Programmer. During her free time, she dances with two professional companies: Vytal Movement Dance in Spokane and Ripple Dance Company in Coeur d’Alene. She also enjoys other art forms including music and photography, both of which she has won awards for. Anna is looking forward to expanding her knowledge of the workings of public radio, and hopes to be able to apply that knowledge to her artistic endeavors.

Brandon Hollingsworth is your All Things Considered host. He has served public radio audiences for fifteen years, primarily in reporting, hosting and interviewing. His previous ports-of-call were WUOT-FM in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Alabama Public Radio. His work has been heard nationally on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here and Now and NPR’s top-of-the-hour newscasts.

Brian is a Spokane native who has been interested in sound technology ever since playing with a reel-to-reel deck as a kid. He learned radio broadcasting on KSFC, before it was part of Spokane Public Radio but still was part of the broadcasting program at Spokane Falls Community College. Brian also studied radio at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon, where he featured new age and fusion jazz on his own show. He admits that at heart he is a news junkie, which fits in well with his work Saturday mornings as regional host for NPR's Morning Edition.

Born and raised in Kennewick Washington, Brendan McMurphy has become a sought-after musician on both trumpet and drum set and can be seen performing regularly throughout the Spokane area. In addition to performance, Brendan is an active educator teaching at Spokane Falls Community College, Whitworth University, Spokane All-City Jazz and Holy Names Music Center. Brendan is also an avid jazz vinyl collector and audio enthusiast.

After listening to KPBX in the car as a child, combing through the annual record sales as a teenager, and volunteering at the pledge drives as an adult, Cassia officially joined the SPR family as a receptionist on Halloween 2018. She now works as part of the station’s business team.

Debbie joined Spokane Public Radio in 2022. She has a degree in Business Administration – Accounting from Eastern Washington University. Debbie has lived in Spokane over 40 years. In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her family.

One of the Northwest's most seasoned reporters is returning to his SPR roots. Doug Nadvornick will be heard frequently on KPBX and KSFC reporting on local news.

Henry McNulty is a Spokane native and proud member of the local professional arts community. A pianist and conductor, he has served as Resident Music Director of Spokane Civic Theatre since 2017 as well as having music-directed productions at Couer d'Alene Summer Theatre, Lake City Playhouse, Gonzaga University, and Eastern Washington University, among others. He has also appeared on several local stages in roles including Jerry Lee Lewis (Million Dollar Quartet) and the title role in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.

Jan Munstedt not only hosts the Monday evening Jazz program, but also spins classical tunes on Saturdays from 10am to noon.

Jerry Olson is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from the University of Cincinnati. In addition to his technical career, he is also a musician who has played tuba and bass trombone with the Berkeley (CA) Symphony and numerous other groups, including the Spokane Symphony. In a previous life, Jerry was a semiconductor engineer in Silicon Valley but in 1989, he and his family moved to Cheney in order to pursue a saner lifestyle. Results have been mixed ...

As a native of Coeur d’ Alene, ID, Karin grew up on SPR. She ecstatically explored radio broadcasting during university at the Princeton-affiliated public radio station WPBR and was awestruck to interview leading writers, politicians and scientists for the nationally syndicated “American Focus” public affairs interview program. While academic research and management consulting took her across the country and around Europe, she is delighted to return to the Inland Northwest and the SPR listening community. When not at the station, Karin loves to witness storytelling (at the theatre, via a Spokane Symphony concert, on a spoken word stage . . .) and is busy writing her own stories.

Raised along the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho, Lauren Paterson reports on culture and socioeconomics in the Pacific Northwest. Her stories focus on working class and tribal communities.

Leonard Oakland hosts a classical music program each week: Sunday Classics, which can be heard from from 10 a.m. – noon on KPBX.

One of the original Jazz hosts for KPBX, Mike Grabicki, will be returning to hosting the Tuesday night Jazz Show on KPBX. Mike produced and hosted jazz shows on KPBX for over a decade and for several years worked as a Jazz Host and producer on KEWU-FM. He owned Mirage Records and Tapes in the 1980's and 1990's here in Spokane and produced many jazz concerts including Diane Schuur and Pat Metheny. Mike has an extensive Jazz music collection of albums and CD's and he will be sharing music covering the entire history Jazz.

Rachel Bade-McMurphy is a musician, composer, and arts advocate spawned in the Pacific Northwest. She studied Music and Humanities at Washington State University and received her Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy from Eastern Washington University. A passionate teacher and jazz enthusiast, she founded Imagine Jazz, a local arts organization that hosts guest artists from New York and around the globe for concerts and educational events. Her new show “Dimensions in Jazz” will explore many eras and sub-genres of jazz threading the many layers of this complex and rich art music.

Stephanie joined Spokane Public Radio in 2003 as the part-time Volunteer Coordinator and Development Assistant. Currently she is the full-time Volunteer Manager and Events Coordinator overseeing Spokane Public Radio’s volunteer and internship programs, as well as working on details for events like the free KPBX Kids’ Concerts and the annual Record Sale. She loves working with our dedicated and diverse group of volunteers. In her spare time she enjoys volunteering in the community, traveling, walking her dog, and spending time with her family.

Steve was part of the Spokane Public Radio family for many years before he came on air in 1999. His wife, Laurie, produced Radio Ethiopia in the late 1980s through the '90s, and Steve used to “lurk in the shadowy world” of Weekend SPR. Steve has done various on air shifts at the station, including nearly 15 years as the local Morning Edition host. Currently, he is the voice of local weather and news during All Things Considerd, writing, editing, producing and/or delivering newscasts and features for both KPBX and KSFC. Aside from SPR, Steve ,who lives in the country, enjoys gardening, chickens, playing and listening to music, astronomy, photography, sports cars and camping.

Tom was a radio and TV news reporter after college then joined the City of Spokane for 31-years. Now semi-retired, he’s returned to his first love… radio.

Zan Agzigian is the Community Producer and Host of Soundspace. She has been with Spokane Public Radio since January 2014. Her passions are poetry, the environment, and alternative healing. Zan describes her careers as “a kitchen sink” explaining that she’s worked in a donut shop, bread delivery, public relations, as a bakery manager, a shuttle van driver, a bartender, an office manager, an arts advocate, a counselor, a fraud investigator, and a poet who absolutely loves music of many kinds.

Kevin Brown, a local musician and bluegrass enthusiast, has been hosting Front Porch Bluegrass on Spokane Public Radio since 2002. In the early 1980s at Whitworth College he spent most of his extracurricular time at the campus radio station, KWRS, where he served as Program Director and trained professor Leonard Oakland in his first radio show. Kevin never quite shook the radio bug after that, and several years later reached out to Leonard to get in the door at Spokane Public Radio.

Kevin Decker, Professor of Philosophy, was left holding the bag when Tony Flinn recently retired from Eastern Washington University. That bag was full of cats. At first, he thought they were cute, but then they woke up and started mauling him. It turned out that the cats were mountain lion cubs, often referred to incorrectly as “cougars.” One had rabies. From his now-permanent hospital bed, Kevin writes for and co-produces “Men in Charge,” the title of which may or may not be ironic

Tony Flinn, known around the model railroad track in his basement as “Professor of English, Emeritus,” recently retired from Eastern Washington University to age in place, like an old car up on blocks in the barn, convenient for climbing behind the wheel and saying “Vroom! Vroom!” He and his co-host and co-producer, Kevin Decker, have been writing and performing in “Men in Charge” since probably 2014, or even earlier, depending on whether you’re using the Julian or Gregorian calendar.

Brion Foster is a busy musician who performs with two local bands in Spokane. He brings over 30 years of radio experience to his program, The Downhome Blues Show.

When asked where he draws his inspiration for Johnson’s Improbable History of Pop, John had this to say, “I write and produce based on my interest in all forms of popular music. I've been listening to this "stuff" since in pre-school.” That seems to work well for John, who’s produced 625 shows since 1995. The show evolved out of an idea John had in December ’93. He did a few specials and the concept eventually gelled into the JIHOP of today. Outside of the studio, John recently retired from Boeing and enjoys golf, jogging and radio, especially the Saturday night lineup on KPBX. He and his wife Melinda have two daughters Korissa and Alicia, and 3 grandchildren.

An in-demand teacher, Michael maintains studios at Gonzaga University, Spokane Falls Community College, and North Idaho College, as well as nurturing a private studio. A regular soloist and ensemble player, he has been a featured performer for numerous regional festivals including the Northwest Guitar Festival, the Northwest Bach Festival, the Festival at Sandpoint (in concerto work with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra), and Northwest Folklife’s guitar showcase in McCaw hall, among others.

Mary Pat joined the Movies 101 team in 2002. Along with husband, Dan Webster she discusses “recent film, favorite DVD selections, film festival offerings and other movie events” in the area. She spends her days as a Professor of Law at Gonzaga University and her free time traveling, reading and watching movies. Her favorite SPR programs are All Things Considered, Native American News, This American Life, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and “anything with Leonard Oakland.” She wants listeners to know that you can contact the Movies 101 crew anytime with your thoughts on film.

Coeur d'Alene bluesman, guitarist, and singer Jesse Warburton, a.k.a "Brother Music"

Dan Webster has been a movie critic for Spokane Public Radio since 2010 and has co-hosted Movies 101 since its inception in 1999. A former Spokesman-Review staff writer, he still writes the Movies & More blog for Spokane7.com. And, yes, he is happily married to his Movies 101 co-host, Mary Pat Treuthart.

Nathan is an entertainment writer and film reviewer. He also produces stories and reviews for Spokane7.