Ted Robbins
As supervising editor for Arts and Culture at NPR based at NPR West in Culver City, Ted Robbins plans coverage across NPR shows and online, focusing on TV at a time when there's never been so much content. He thinks "arts and culture" encompasses a lot of human creativity — from traditional museum offerings to popular culture, and out-of-the-way people and events.
Robbins also supervises obituaries or, as NPR prefers to call them, "appreciations," of people in the arts.
Robbins joined the Arts Desk in 2015, after a decade on air as a NPR National Desk correspondent based in Tucson, Arizona. From there, he covered the Southwest, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Robbins reported on a range of issues, from immigration and border security to water issues and wildfires. He covered the economy in the West with an emphasis on the housing market and Las Vegas development. He reported on the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six and injured many, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Robbins' reporting has been honored with numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards—one for his story on sex education in schools, and another for his series on women in the workforce. He received a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."
In 2006, Robbins wrote an article for the Nieman Reports at Harvard about journalism and immigration. He was chosen for a 2009 French-American Foundation Fellowship focused on comparing European and U.S. immigration issues.
Raised in Los Angeles, Robbins became an avid NPR listener while spending hours driving (or stopped in traffic) on congested freeways. He is delighted to now be covering stories for his favorite news source.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2004, Robbins spent five years as a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, and working as a field producer for CBS News. He worked for NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, where he also did some radio reporting and print reporting for USA Today.
Robbins earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and his master's degree in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught journalism at the University of Arizona for a decade.
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British character actor Andrew Sachs has died at age 86. He was best known as the waiter Manuel on the cult TV series, Fawlty Towers.
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We remember David Huddleston, the actor best known for his role as The Big Lebowski. He died this past week at the age of 85.
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Correspondents, editors and producers from our newsroom share the pieces that have kept them reading, using the #NPRreads hashtag. Each weekend, we highlight some of the best stories. -
Hollywood legend Garry Marshall died Tuesday at the age of 81. He was responsible for some of the biggest TV hits of the 1970s including The Odd Couple, Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. He also made Julia Roberts a superstar with Pretty Woman.
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"This police department trained in de-escalation far before cities across America did it," Mayor Mike Rawlings said on Friday after a deadly attack on the city's police officers. -
Maurice White, the founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, has died at age 74. The horn-driven band was known for 1970s hits such as "Shining Star" and "September."
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The Rock and Roll community has lost another musician. Glenn Frey, who was a founding member of The Eagles, died Monday in New York of complications from arthritis, colitis and pneumonia. He was 67.
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Around the newsroom and around the world, here's what we're reading this week.
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Boot Hill in Tombstone, Ariz., is the name given to an early frontier cemetery because many of the residents "died with their boots on." (This piece first aired on August 14, 2012 on Morning Edition.)
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Béarnaise is a classic French sauce typically served with steak. But it's tricky for a home chef to keep the raw egg and the butter in it from separating. A chef reveals his secret weapon.
