Robin Washington is the host of WPR’s regional program “Simply Superior” which airs on KUWS in Superior, WUWS in Ashland, WHSA in Brule, WSSU in Superior and WHWA in Washburn/Bayfield.
In addition to his work with WPR, Robin is editor-at-large of the Forward, the nation’s premiere Jewish publication, and a contributing editor for American City Business Journals.
Robin grew up in a Chicago family of Black and Jewish civil rights activists. Participating in sit-ins and protests when he was three years old, today he recalls those events fondly as “family outings” — though history records them as dangerous and nation-changing.
The winner of many prestigious journalism awards, Robin has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News, CNN, National Public Radio and the BBC. From 2004-14, he was editorial page editor, news director, and then editor of Minnesota’s Duluth News Tribune. Previously, he was a columnist for the Boston Herald, for which he covered the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. His columns have also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Minneapolis StarTribune, Chicago Sun-Times, the Baltimore Sun, San Jose Mercury-News and many other newspapers.
Robin’s television work includes the documentary “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow!” The story of the first Freedom Ride, in 1947, the program brought Irene Morgan to national attention as “The Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement.” He recently adapted the show for radio in a special edition of Simply Superior to mark the 75th anniversary of the ride. The program received the outstanding documentary award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2023. He also received wide acclaim for his radio documentaries “The Alabama 35” and “My Favorite Things at 50.” He was also a commentator for NPR’s “News & Notes” and a contributor to many other shows.
Much earlier, in 1990, he produced what was very likely the first television interview with then-Harvard Law student Barack Obama.
A Fellow in Science Broadcasting Journalism at WGBH TV Boston, Robin has lectured and given keynote addresses at Harvard, MIT, Brown, Middlebury, the University of Minnesota and dozens of other colleges and universities. He was an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University and Emerson College and is a research scholar for the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.
