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.

A recent graduate of Whitworth University, Aaron joined SPR's opperations department in November 2024.

Monica Carrillo-Casas joined SPR in July 2024 as a rural reporter through the WSU College of Communication’s Murrow Fellows program. Monica focuses on rural issues in northeast Washington for both the Spokesman-Review and SPR.

Before joining SPR’s news team, Monica Carrillo-Casas was the Hispanic life and affairs reporter at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho. Carrillo-Casas interned and worked as a part-time reporter at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, through Voces Internship of Idaho, where she covered the University of Idaho tragic quadruple homicide. She was also one of 16 students chosen for the 2023 POLITICO Journalism Institute — a selective 10-day program for undergraduate and graduate students that offers training and workshops to sharpen reporting skills.

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.

I’m so excited to introduce myself as the new President and General Manager of Spokane Public Radio. I’ve spent my entire career—more than 30 years—in public media, and I’m thrilled to bring that experience to SPR as we look toward the future together.

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.

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, and as a free-lance lighting designer. During her free time, she dances professionally with Vytal Movement Dance in Spokane. 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.

Owen Henderson is a 2023 graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied journalism with minors in Spanish and theater. Before joining the team at SPR, he worked as the Weekend Edition host for Illinois Public Media, as well as reporting on the arts and LGBTQ+ issues. Having grown up in the Midwest, he’s excited to get acquainted with the Inland Northwest and all that it has to offer. When he’s not in the newsroom or behind the mic, you can find Owen out on the trails hiking or in his kitchen baking bread.

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 first 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 on KMUN.

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.

Classical Music and Program Director Henry McNulty is a lifelong member of the arts community, serving as a performer, music director, and musician across the region. Henry studied music at Eastern Washington University, later earning his M.F.A. in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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

Doug Nadvornick has spent most of his 30+-year radio career at Spokane Public Radio and filled a variety of positions. He is currently the program director and news director. Through the years, he has also been the local Morning Edition and All Things Considered host (not at the same time). He served as the Inland Northwest correspondent for the Northwest News Network, based in Coeur d’Alene. He created the original program grid for KSFC. He has also served for several years as a board member for Public Media Journalists Association. During his years away from SPR, he worked at The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Washington State University in Spokane and KXLY Radio.

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.

One of the original Jazz hosts for KPBX, Mike Grabicki, hosts Friday Night Jazz 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.

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 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.

A recent graduate of Whitworth University, Aaron joined SPR's opperations department in November 2024.

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, and as a free-lance lighting designer. During her free time, she dances professionally with Vytal Movement Dance in Spokane. 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.

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 first 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 on KMUN.

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.

Doug Nadvornick has spent most of his 30+-year radio career at Spokane Public Radio and filled a variety of positions. He is currently the program director and news director. Through the years, he has also been the local Morning Edition and All Things Considered host (not at the same time). He served as the Inland Northwest correspondent for the Northwest News Network, based in Coeur d’Alene. He created the original program grid for KSFC. He has also served for several years as a board member for Public Media Journalists Association. During his years away from SPR, he worked at The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Washington State University in Spokane and KXLY Radio.

Classical Music and Program Director Henry McNulty is a lifelong member of the arts community, serving as a performer, music director, and musician across the region. Henry studied music at Eastern Washington University, later earning his M.F.A. in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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 ...

I’m so excited to introduce myself as the new President and General Manager of Spokane Public Radio. I’ve spent my entire career—more than 30 years—in public media, and I’m thrilled to bring that experience to SPR as we look toward the future together.

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.

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, hosts Friday Night Jazz 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.

Monica Carrillo-Casas joined SPR in July 2024 as a rural reporter through the WSU College of Communication’s Murrow Fellows program. Monica focuses on rural issues in northeast Washington for both the Spokesman-Review and SPR.

Before joining SPR’s news team, Monica Carrillo-Casas was the Hispanic life and affairs reporter at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho. Carrillo-Casas interned and worked as a part-time reporter at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, through Voces Internship of Idaho, where she covered the University of Idaho tragic quadruple homicide. She was also one of 16 students chosen for the 2023 POLITICO Journalism Institute — a selective 10-day program for undergraduate and graduate students that offers training and workshops to sharpen reporting skills.

Owen Henderson is a 2023 graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied journalism with minors in Spanish and theater. Before joining the team at SPR, he worked as the Weekend Edition host for Illinois Public Media, as well as reporting on the arts and LGBTQ+ issues. Having grown up in the Midwest, he’s excited to get acquainted with the Inland Northwest and all that it has to offer. When he’s not in the newsroom or behind the mic, you can find Owen out on the trails hiking or in his kitchen baking bread.

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.

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.