click to enlarge - Courtesy of Vermont Public/Daria Bishop
- Mitch Wertlieb
Mitch Wertlieb, host and producer of Vermont Public’s daily news podcast “The Frequency,” has been named permanent host of “Vermont This Week.”
The show is the flagship televised news program for Vermont Public, the entity created nearly three years ago when Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS merged.
"I’m really grateful for this opportunity,” Wertlieb told Seven Days on Wednesday. “I’ve gotten to know some of the folks on the PBS crew and am blown away by what they do.”
Wertlieb’s first show will air on Friday, May 10, at 7 p.m. The weekly program features a rotating panel of Vermont journalists — sometimes from Seven Days — discussing the news of the week.
"Vermont This Week" had been without a permanent host for nearly a year, since Stewart Ledbetter stepped down last May. In the interim, Vermont Public has used a rotating cast of moderators, including Wertlieb and some reporters from Seven Days.
Wertlieb will be the fourth permanent host of the program, which debuted in 1982.
“We were inspired by Mitch’s desire to highlight panelists’ expertise by digging into their process and bringing their personalities to the fore,” Angela Evancie, senior vice president of content, said in a statement.
Wertlieb is best known for his 20-year run as the local host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.” He left that gig last summer to work on “The Frequency.” He'll continue to host the daily podcast, according to Vermont Public.
“I’m really hoping that we can expand the format of the show and potentially bring Vermont’s creative community into the conversation,” Wertlieb said. “For now, though, I’m still getting used to the basics of broadcast television: using a teleprompter and remembering that people can actually see me when we're recording.”