Ben Kieffer

Expertise: Interviewing, news and politics, scientific research, history and literature, all in order to help IPR listeners and readers better understand, appreciate and explore their state

Education: Bachelors degree from the University of Iowa

Favorite Iowa Destination: Anywhere where there's swimming, hiking or biking!

Experience:

• Has served as a talk show and podcast host for IPR and WSUI/KSUI
  
  • Has been the host of River to River since 2007
  • Hosted IPR's weekly live music/talk show Java Blend from 2000 to 2017
• Is a multi-award-winning host and reporter
• Has created and hosted many regular segments and series, including "Leaving Afghanistan," a series of interviews with US veterans of the Afghanistan War, "Politics Wednesday," "Big Brain," a talk show that tackled life's little questions, "News Buzz" and "Groove into the Weekend"
• Has interviewed major political candidates and elected leaders, including former US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Joni Ernst, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris, among others
• Worked in Europe for more than a decade as a journalist, translator and consultant
  
  • Reported firsthand in 1989 on the fall of the Berlin Wall and from Prague on the Velvet Revolution
  • Hosted a weekly radio magazine about European politics, science and culture, carried by public radio stations across North America from 1990 - 1993
• Serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa, teaching courses on interviewing techniques, radio journalism, politics and storytelling
• First started in public radio in the mid-1980s as a student announcer on WSUI

Contact Ben at bkieffer@iowapublicradio.org.