RadioExtra on Minnesota Public Radio
About the hosts and guests
August 12-16, 2002

Katherine Lanpher

About RadioExtra RadioExtra is an experimental three-week public radio series. WNYC, New York; Minnesota Public Radio; and KPCC, Los Angeles, are each producing a week of hour-long news/talk programs. From Aug. 5 through Aug. 23, all three will carry the programs live on each other's stations. The programs are also available to all other public radio stations. Tune in on all Minnesota Public Radio news and information stations August 5-23 at 9 p.m. CT. Listen online August 12-16 at 9 p.m. CT. Attend live broadcasts from the Suburban World Theater in Minneapolis August 12-14. See events calendar. Tell us what you think of RadioExtra with our feedback form.

Lanpher joined MPR in August, 1998, as host of Midmorning, a two-hour weekday program. In 1999, she was guest host for National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation. Lanpher came to MPR from the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, where she wrote one of the publication's most popular columns, which also appeared in newspapers across the country via the Knight-Ridder wire service. She covered the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing, accompanied Minnesota World War II veterans to the 50th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, and covered leaders in the domestic violence advocacy movement who went to Tirana, Albania, to set up Eastern Europe's first conference on domestic violence.

Lanpher is a graduate in journalism from Northwestern University and holds a master's degree in American cultural history from the University of Chicago. She worked in St. Paul as a reporter with beats including crime, labor, general assignment, and feature writing for more than 10 years. Her renown as a lecturer and moderator has her much in demand across this country and Canada. Thousands have enjoyed her work as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC.

Kai Ryssdal
Before taking on hosting duties for Marketplace Morning Report, Kai Ryssdal served as a reporter for The California Report, a news and information program distributed to 25 public radio stations throughout California by KQED-FM in San Francisco. He has reported on business and the economy, state politics, criminal justice and capital punishment, and agriculture for the program, as well as the ongoing energy crisis. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Kai spent eight years in the U.S. Navy as a pilot and then as a Pentagon staff officer. Before his career in public radio, Kai was a member of the United States Foreign Service and served in Ottawa and Beijing.

Arthur Phillips
Phillips was born in Minneapolis and educated at Harvard. He has been a child actor, a jazz musician, a speechwriter, a dismally failed entrepreneur, and a five-time Jeopardy! champion. He lived in Budapest from 1990 to 1992 and now lives in Paris with his wife and son.

Lizz Winstead
As a co-creator and former head writer of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Lizz Winstead brought fresh new ideas to television. In addition to her work on The Daily Show, she created, executive produced, and starred in the critically acclaimed special, Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death of a Supermodel. She has also used her biting wit segment-producing The Jon Stewart Show, and is a frequent guest commentator on CNN and The Fox News Channel. Her one-person shows, Don't Get Me Started and Stream of Consciousness, showed that Winstead could tackle emotionally charged issues like religion and abortion and lace them with raucous humor and sharp insight. She has appeared numerous times on HBO's Women of the Night and Politically Incorrect. Winstead recently co-wrote a pilot for UPN called Minneapple, co-created This Week Has 7 Days, a satirical newsmagazine for FOX television, and developed and produced the two VH-1 series, Rock and Roll Record Breakers and Don't Quote Me.

Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura grew up in the south Minneapolis Longfellow neighborhood, attended Cooper Elementary School and Sanford Junior High, and graduated from Roosevelt Senior High School in 1969. Immediately after high school, he joined the U.S. Navy and was trained as a SEAL. After being honorably discharged from the Navy in 1973, he attended North Hennepin Community College on the GI bill. After working as a professional wrestler for 11 years, he retired in 1984 and became an actor, appearing in several films including Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was elected mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in 1990 and served until 1995. He then became a radio talk show host at KSTP-AM and KFAN-AM in the Twin Cities. He was elected governor of Minnesota in 1998 and will end his term in January 2003.