KPBS Midday Edition

Politicos, Journalists, Friends Remember Gloria Penner

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Pat Finn / Producer , Mark Sauer / Host, The Roundtable

Published October 12, 2012 at 7:40 AM PDT

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Gloria Penner, KPBS Senior Political Correspondent and host of Editors' Roundtable, was inducted in 2011 into the KPBS Hall of Fame with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Politicos, Journalists, Friends Remember Gloria Penner

Today's Roundtable features some of the many touched by Gloria's style, standards, mentoring and, most definitely, her sharp and insightful questions. They include: Tom Karlo, KPBS General Manager Susan Davis, Member of Congress Ron Roberts, San Diego County Supervisor Marti Emerald, San Diego City Council Member The original editors: Bob Kittle, John Warren, Tim McClain, Kent Davy Scott Lewis, CEO, VoiceofSanDiego David Rolland, Editor, San Diego CityBeat Amita Sharma, reporter, KPBS News Alissa Joyce Barba, Editor, Fronteras Changing America Desk Hank Crook, former producer, Editor's Roundtable Debra Kodama, former News Assistant

When Gloria Penner created the "Editor's Roundtable" in 1998, her idea was to provide San Diegans with both analysis and context for the news stories of the week. Everything was fair game: politics, the economy, crime and justice, real estate, the arts.

She even tackled sports, although not enthusiastically.

She wanted a panel of Editors because they, rather than reporters, could express opinions, and opinions can make a show more interesting and fun.

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Her go-to panel most often included Bob Kittle, the lead editorial writer for the San Diego Union Tribune; John Warren, editor and publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint; Tim McClain, editor of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine; and Kent Davy, editor of the North County Times.

All of these, except Voice and Viewpoint, eventually changed hands or direction, or no longer exist. But Gloria welcomed the new kids on the block, championing the on-line VoiceofSanDiego and the weekly San Diego CityBeat. She even wrote a blog, "Political Fix," for a time.

Today's Roundtable features some of the many touched by Gloria's style, standards, mentoring and, most definitely, her sharp and insightful questions. They include:

Tom Karlo, KPBS General Manager

Susan Davis, Member of Congress

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Ron Roberts, San Diego County Supervisor

Marti Emerald, San Diego City Council Member

The original editors: Bob Kittle, John Warren, Tim McClain, Kent Davy

Scott Lewis, CEO, VoiceofSanDiego

David Rolland, Editor, San Diego CityBeat

Amita Sharma, reporter, KPBS News

Alissa Joyce Barba, Editor, Fronteras Changing America Desk

Hank Crook, former producer, Editor's Roundtable

Debra Kodama, former News Assistant

KPBS Midday Edition

Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Pat Finn

Pat Finn previously served as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and KPBS Evening Edition. Finn began her career in broadcasting at KTLA and KCET in Los Angeles. In 1979 she became KPBS’ Public Information Director, then Director of Advertising and Promotion, Program Director, and Director of Broadcasting. She oversaw the station’s local and national productions, including the one-hour documentary Los Romeros: The Royal Family of the Guitar, and Child Protective Services, a one-hour look inside the San Diego County agency responsible for the welfare of at risk children. Both programs also aired on public television stations nationwide. Finn has earned honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

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Mark Sauer

A newspaperman for more than 30 years, Mark Sauer joined KPBS in October 2010 and previously served as the host of the KPBS Roundtable. He spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune after stints at The Houston Post and at two papers in his native Michigan. A features/human-interest writer in the UT's Currents section for many years, Mark also spent about a third of his UT career as an editor and reporter on the Metro Desk. He has covered a wide range of events: Wild fires in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; Super Bowls and the World Series; foster care and child-abuse issues; the Roman Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse scandal and bankruptcy; royal visits of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princess Diana; Republican and Democratic national conventions; high-profile criminal trials; and many other stories, from the silly to the sublime. Along the way, he interviewed everyone from presidents to pan-handlers. His work exposing the false accusations and prosecutions of several San Diegans for murder, rape and child abuse garnered Pulitzer Prize nominations and many regional and local journalism awards, including Best in the West, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism and several San Diego and California bar-association awards. Mark has a degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

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