Karen Schaefer visited Stephen Merrill’s TCOM4620 Radio Programming class and talked with students about opportunities in non-commercial media, fielded student questions and provided students with valuable industry insights.
Karen Schaefer Bio
Karen Schaefer is a veteran public radio journalist based in Northeast Ohio with more than 65 national, regional and local awards for her in-depth reports, documentaries and interviews on subjects ranging from the environment to politics, the economy, homeland security, and breaking news of the day.
Schaefer began her career in public broadcasting at WBNI-Fort Wayne in 1979 as a volunteer music show host. Nine years later, she moved to Ohio, where she began freelancing for magazines and newspapers, among them the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She also produced a short weekly radio program for four years for WCLV, a classical radio station in Cleveland.
In 1998, Schaefer was hired as a freelance journalist at public radio station WCPN-Cleveland. She became a full-time employee in 2000. First as a general assignment, then environmental beat reporter, Schaefer produced stories for WCPN and national and international news networks including NPR, the CBC, the BBC and Voice of America. She provided exclusive coverage of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant’s near-disaster for NPR, covered multiple presidential campaigns, and filed national stories ranging from NASA funding to Ohio’s Underground Railroad history. She also produced numerous television segments for WVIZ-Public Television in Cleveland.
Schaefer moved to Ohio public radio station WKSU at Kent, Ohio in 2006. For the next three years she produced daily features and spots for local broadcast. At WKSU, her stories for NPR included obituaries of Ohio soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, as well as features on air traffic controllers, the recession and green technology.
In October of 2009, Schaefer was downsized from WKSU as part of a cost-cutting move. For the past two years, she has been freelancing once again. Her stories have aired on NPR, WBEZ-Chicago, WBUR-Boston’s Only A Game, and The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh public radio environmental news program. She is currently working on a radio history project for the Ohio Humanities Council.
Schaefer has been a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists since 2003. Throughout her career, she’s been fortunate to receive training from some of the best in the biz: David Candow, CBC producer and NPR’s ‘host whisperer,’ Davis Nelson of the Kitchen Sisters, journalism guru Jay Rosen, and voice coach Marilyn Pittman, to name a few. Schaefer has also been named a fellow for multiple workshops and fellowships, including SEJ, the Ohio Sea Grant, and the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources. She’s been invited to speak at numerous venues, including the Ohio State University, and has taught classes at Oberlin College and Kent State University.