KUNM is welcoming our new permanent All Things Considered host, Mark Haslett. While he’s new to our station, we can’t say that he’s new to public media, or even New Mexico. Haslett has worked as a host for almost two decades, and he lived in Albuquerque in the 90’s! KUNM spoke with Haslett about what the job means to him.
HASLETT: I have been in media since 2003. I was up in Western Kansas working in the sports department at the Garden City Telegram, which is the daily paper that serves southwestern Kansas, and the local public radio station had an opening for an All Things Considered host and reporter. And I'd never done radio before, but I was familiar with radio. My father was a music DJ at various times during his career. And so between a little bit of familiarity with radio and a little bit of a background in community theater and school theater, I figured I might have a shot, and so they picked me up in 2006. I worked for High Plains Public Radio for a while and eventually ended up at KETR.
KUNM: Why did you want to come to KUNM?
HASLETT: Well, aside from the fact that I love Albuquerque and New Mexico, as far as KUNM specifically goes, I really respect and appreciate KUNM's approach to its audience and its relationship to its audience. Some public stations are better than others when it comes to audience engagement. And not just engagement, but just the overall attitude that the station has to its audience. It seems to me that KUNM is very faithful to public media values in that we serve the entire community and we appreciate the worth and value of everyone in our listening audience. To me, that reflects the station's decades of service to the people of Albuquerque and New Mexico.
KUNM: Now that you're at KUNM, how do you hope to connect with listeners and our supporters as our new All Things Considered host?
HASLETT: My general approach to hosting is that the host is a guide. The host is telling you what's coming up, what's ahead, what's going on and is kind of a friendly companion for the listener. I hope to bring a warm, without being overly familiar, presence to the airwaves here in New Mexico, and I hope to help the audience appreciate and enjoy the program more. As well as, of course, presenting local and state news, as well as weather, which of course is kind of a big deal right now. We all want to know how hot it's going to get or not get.
KUNM: What are you most looking forward to about living in New Mexico again?
HASLETT: Well, for one thing, I appreciate the history and cultures of the region. It's literally unique. It's not like anywhere else in the Southwest as far as the particular history that we have in central and northern New Mexico, particularly. In addition to the sort of three cultures that we associate with New Mexico traditionally, today, New Mexico is home to people from all over the world, and so I really look forward to learning about how the city has changed in the 26 years that I've been away and exploring what's going on, the diversity that we can find in the arts. I definitely want to get out to an Isotopes game here pretty soon. I'm going to get out and see some Lobo football for sure. And also just get out into the natural world, the amazing beauty of New Mexico.
KUNM: What are you looking forward to reporting on here at KUNM?
HASLETT: When I was finishing up and getting ready to move at my old job, I was aware of the fact that I have a lot of self-educating and also lots of listening to do before I really figure out exactly what beats I'm going to try to develop here. This might be my second go around in New Mexico, but I was not a journalist last time I lived here. So I've never lived in this place, looking at New Mexico, through the eyes of a journalist. I want to take a look at things like business, the economy, because, I mean, arts and culture is wonderful, but we all live in a material universe and the quality of our lives in many ways depends on how much money we have. We've got people that we’ve got to take care of ourselves, and everyone's really concerned about the economy and economic uncertainty. So I want to focus on issues of wealth and poverty and help people understand the forces that affect all of us.
