Richard Ives came to WLRN in September 2000 to begin a new career in radio. Born in Fort Lauderdale, his family moved to Long Island, New York, where he grew up. After graduation from college and an unsatisfying stint in a job that, as he puts it, "paid the bills but for which I had no passion" he found himself contemplating a midlife career change after being laid-off.

WLRN Radio's Joseph Cooper says producing and hosting Topical Currents is the most rewarding experience of his long radio career, which began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in the 1970s.