Meet the Staff
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Jess Engebretson, Associate Producer
Jess comes to BackStory from a stint training radio journalism students in Liberia, where she focused on human rights reporting and occasionally freelanced for PRI’s The World. Prior to that, she spent a year exploring radio and reconciliation in Indonesia, Liberia, and Rwanda as a Watson Fellow. Jess got her feet wet in radio while a student at Swarthmore College, working with War News Radio and the Sudan Radio Project. When not firmly ensconced in the studio there, she studied English literature and philosophy.
If Jess were a moment in American history, she’d be the first, meandering steps of Harriet Chalmers Adams’ long journey south.
Eric Mennel, Associate Producer
Eric comes to BackStory after finishing an internship with This American Life. While there, he reported, co-produced, and mixed alongside the staff. Before that, he spent some time with WUSF in Tampa, Florida, doing daily reports on state politics, sports, and every Floridian’s favorite topic – bad weather. He’s done work for Florida Public Radio, NPR Newscast, and Studio 360. Eric graduated from Florida State University in 2010 with a B.A. In Creative Writing. He’s also taking music suggestions all the time, so feel free to tweet some recs to @BackStoryRadio.
If Eric were a moment in American history, he’d be the real life equivalent to that scene in The Great Gatsby when that chick gets hit by the car and everyone’s like “Hmm… these automobiles are kinda scary. We should drink less.”
Anna Pinkert, Associate Producer
Anna began her career producing media for museums and non-profits. She fell in love with radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Her 2010 story about the village of Flagstaff, ME won the Missouri Review award for Best Professionally-Recorded Documentary. She most recently interned and produced for WBUR’s Radio Boston, a daily local news program. Anna is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
If Anna were a moment in history, she would be the very first squeak of the Ferris wheel at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Tony Field, Senior Producer
Tony always wondered why there weren’t any history shows on public radio. Then along came Ed, Peter, and Brian. They told him they were “the History Guys.” He was skeptical, but took their word for it. So far, they have him convinced.
Born and bred in the wilds of New Jersey, Tony moved to Virginia in early 2008 to launch BackStory. Before that, he lived in New York City and worked as a producer for NPR’s Peabody Award-winning On the Media. Tony has worked in radio since 2000, when he walked through the doors of WBUR in Boston and was handed a reel of tape and a razor blade to cut it with. Turns out it was one of the last razor blades in the business.
If Tony were a moment in American history, he would be the lean, hungry, wandering years of Cabeza de Vaca, barefooting through deserts from prickly-pear to prickly pear, seeking and healing, seeking and healing…
Catherine Moore, Contributor-at-Large
Catherine Moore lives in Beckwith, WV, near the Mystery Hole–the storehouse, she is sure, of all of American history’s remaining secrets. Trained as a writer, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Her interest in history developed through various jobs at historical archives and humanities organizations–a gig as Desk Attendant of the Woodberry Poetry Room of Houghton Library perhaps tops them all. She enjoys biking on back roads, cooling off in the creek, and making use of manual typewriters. Future plans include mastering the pedal steel.
If Catherine were a moment in American history, she would most definitely be the railroad boom.
Andrew Wyndham, Executive Producer
BackStory‘s own backstory goes back to August 2005, when Andrew, VFH’s Director of Media Programs, who knew Ed Ayers and Peter Onuf, broached the idea of bringing them together to create a call-in radio program that was prospectively called “The History Guys” and then became “The History Hotline.” At Ed’s and Peter’s suggestion, Brian Balogh was immediately drafted for the team and, over the next three years Andrew and other staff worked with the “fab three” on an R & D phase that included numerous studio sessions and several on-air gigs, leading up to the completion of a demo program. Andrew raised the funds to make the program fly for real and, in early 2008, recruited the show’s producers,who have made BackStory the highly-produced, topical program that it is today.
Born in England of Polish-Irish parents, Andrew executive produces other VFH Radio programs, including “With Good Reason” and the Humanities Feature Bureau. He organized and directed the award-winning “Re-Imagining Ireland” conference and festival, directed a related documentary video, and edited a companion book.
If Andrew were a moment in American history he’d be any of the annual naturalization ceremonies at Monticello, or February 9, 1964.
Jamal Millner, Technical Director
