Indira Lakshmanan named ‘Here & Now’ co-host

NPR and WBUR have added Indira Lakshmanan as a co-host of Here & Now. 

Lakshmanan will begin next month, joining co-hosts Scott Tong and Robin Young, the organizations announced in a press release Tuesday. 

Lakshmanan called the co-hosting job “the opportunity of a lifetime” in the release. 

“I grew up listening to All Things Considered on family radios that were permanently tuned to public broadcasting, and joined NPR straight out of university as an editorial assistant to the foreign desk and an overseas stringer,” she said. “Since then, I have reported and edited from six continents, plus Washington and Boston for national newspapers and magazines, two global wire services, radio, TV and podcasts. I’ve come to realize that my first love and my greatest strength is in audio storytelling.”

Lakshmanan is currently ideas and opinions editor at U.S. News & World Report. She has worked for numerous media outlets, including The Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Boston Globe and National Geographic. She has also been a contributor and fill-in host on WAMU’s 1A, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Here & Now and On Point.

NPR and WBUR also announced two other job changes at the program. Allan Price is now EP of the program. He was previously EP of politics at BBC News. And Peter O’Dowd, the program’s senior editor and a fill-in host, will take on a new role as a correspondent and regular fill-in host.

NPR and WBUR said in the release that the program has increased its audience 13% over the last six months, reaching 5 million listeners on 500 stations. 

“We’re building on this momentum with a team that’s exceptionally talented and deeply committed to high-quality journalism,” WBUR CCO Victor Hernandez said in the release. “The Here & Now team is already doing outstanding work. Indira, Allan and Peter will further our efforts to deliver distinctive and engaging coverage every day.”