Celebrated journalist and host of The Takeaway John
Hockenberry will come to Northeast Ohio for two events
on Thursday, May 7.

Celebrated journalist and host of The Takeaway John Hockenberry is coming to Northeast Ohio for two events on Thursday, May 7.

Hockenberry will speak on the changing state of media and news at 7:30 p.m. at Actors’ Summit Theatre in Greystone Hall in downtown Akron. Audience members are encouraged to ask questions during the Q&A following his talk.

Hockenberry is currently heard on WKSU as host of PRI’s The Takeaway weekday mornings at 9 a.m. During his stay in Ohio, he will broadcast his program live from the WKSU Broadcast Center at Kent State University.

Tickets are on sale now to hear Hockenberry speak. Seats are $15 for General Reserved and $40 for Gold Circle, which include admission to a pre-talk meet-and-greet reception at Greystone Hall beginning at 6 p.m.

A limited number of passes also are available to watch Hockenberry on-air in Kent starting at 8:30 a.m. Admission is free with ticket RSVP. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 330-672-3114.

The Takeaway continues Hockenberry’s return to his roots in public radio, where he was one of the medium’s early innovators. His radio hiatus includes 15 years in network and cable television, during which time he earned four Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Casey Medal. At NBC, he served as a correspondent for Dateline and also hosted two of his own programs for MSNBC, Hockenberry and Edgewise.

Hockenberry also has been recognized for his pioneering online content. He hosts the award-winning public radio series The DNA Files. Hockenberry is a weekly commentator for the series The Infinite Mind and currently sits as a Distinguished Fellow at the prestigious MIT Media Lab. In 2012, he offered a popular TED Talk on design and disabilities.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Hockenberry grew up in upstate New York and Michigan, and attended the University of Chicago and the University of Oregon. He and his wife, Alison, live in Brooklyn with their five children. He is the author of the memoir Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence and appeared off-Broadway in the autobiographical play “Spoke Man.”

WKSU’s presentation of John Hockenberry in Akron is made possible through support from Dominion, National First Ladies’ Library, One in Six Foundation, State and Federal Communications and United Disability Services.

WKSU is an award-winning public radio station and service of Kent State University that broadcasts to 22 counties in Northeast Ohio from the station’s primary signal at 89.7. WKSU content can also be heard over WKRW 89.3 (Wooster), WKRJ 91.5 (Dover/ New Philadelphia), WKSV 89.1 (Thompson), WNRK 90.7 (Norwalk) and W239AZ 95.7 (Ashland). The station adds WKSU-2 Folk Alley, WKSU-3 The Classical Channel and WKSU-4 The News Channel over HD Radio and as streaming audio at www.wksu.org.

For more information about tickets, visit www.wksu.org/features/feature/602/The-Takeaway-s-John-Hockenberry-Comes-to-Northeast-Ohio/.