Hi there. My name is Benjamin Payne. I’m an early-career journalist passionate about public media, and eager to put my newly minted master’s degree to good use.

In December 2020, I graduated with a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism, where I also instructed undergraduates as a teaching assistant. Along the way, I freelanced, including for NPR and Marketplace.

I’m excited about using the skills I strengthened during grad school to get back into — and to help further — the field of public media. That’s where I was before Reno — most recently at NPR member station WVIK in Rock Island, Illinois. There, I worked as the station’s local Morning Edition host, serving the Quad Cities metro area of roughly 400,000 people across western Illinois and eastern Iowa. I also reported spot and feature news for WVIK, edited some of the station’s podcasts, and reported some stories for NPR that were broadcast nationally (such as this one and this one).

Before WVIK, I served a news internship at WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR member station. There, I operated in a fast-paced and demanding newsroom amid the pressure cooker of a bustling news media market. I reported and voiced spots on practically everything — from tense political protests to a vintage "L" train ride-along.

And before WBEZ, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Journalism & Mass Communication from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

Thanks for visiting!

— @benjaminpayne