Michael Krasny, the longtime host of KQED’s Forum, will retire next year, the San Francisco station announced Monday.
Krasny has hosted the weekday call-in radio program since 1993. The show airs during morning drive time and is distributed to public radio stations in California. Krasny’s regular hosting duties will end Feb. 15, the station said in a press release.
“I want to thank all of the listeners, guests and exceptional colleagues I’ve had the great fortune to encounter over the years as host of Forum,” Krasny said in the release. “I’ve been unusually fortunate to sustain such a long career serving the Bay Area in a role that allows me to participate in such rich and thoughtful conversations about the topics of our times.”
Krasny got his start in commercial radio in the ’70s and began working for the ABC radio and television affiliate in San Francisco in the ’80s. In addition to his broadcast career, Krasny is also an English professor at San Francisco State University and has written numerous books.
“Michael is a Bay Area jewel,” said Chief Content Officer Holly Kernan in the release. “His is a model public service career and he has brought depth, compassion and the expertise of a literature professor to the airwaves on a daily basis. Forum shows how a regional public affairs program can serve listeners with reasoned and thoughtful dialogue that cuts across so many disciplines and important issues.”
KQED will begin a national search for his replacement.