Tonya Mosley is stepping down from her position at the end of January as co-host of Here & Now, a nationally distributed radio program produced by WBUR in Boston.
Mosley will become a correspondent for the program. News of Mosley’s job change was first reported by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik.
“To be clear, @TonyaMosley is NOT leaving @hereandnow,” said Here & Now EP Carline Watson on Twitter. “She is stepping away from hosting to become a correspondent with the show. We are excited to hear all the different ways Tonya will now be able to engage with our audience across different platforms[.]”
Folkenflik reported that Mosley will be a correspondent through the end of her work contract, which ends in August.
“I have been honored over the past two years to be part of the biggest stories of our time at Here & Now,” Mosley told Folkenflik. “As individual journalists and as institutions, we need to be thinking about what are the ways we serve the audience that may be different than the way we do now. This is a moment where we need to have deep reflection on who we are and what value we have to the people. Maintaining the status quo is not the way to do it.”
Watson notified stations of the change in a memo Friday. In the memo, Mosley said she is “honored to have been one of your guides through some of the toughest news cycles of our lifetime,” adding, “I look forward to serving you in new and dynamic ways.”
The memo also said Mosley’s new role as correspondent will allow her to invest more time in other projects, including her podcast Truth Be Told. According to Folkenflik’s report, Mosley acquired the rights to the podcast from KQED in San Francisco, which rebooted the program with Mosley in 2019. In an interview with Current last year, Mosley said NPR and stations should consider new ways to retain employees, including discussing intellectual property rights with program creators.
Mosley joined Here & Now in 2019. She has also been Silicon Valley bureau chief and correspondent for KQED and a series creator for KUOW in Seattle.
Watson said WBUR will begin a search for a new co-host to work alongside Robin Young and Scott Tong. Tong joined the program last year.
Mosley’s job change follows news of other hosts leaving NPR programs, including Audie Cornish, Noel King and Lulu Garcia-Navarro.