Dani Gehr
Talk Show ProducerExpertise: Finding, booking, preparing and connecting guests with listeners on IPR's two talk shows: <i>Talk of Iowa</i> and <i>River to River</i>
Education: Bachelors degree from Iowa State University
Favorite Iowa Destination: Pike's Peak State Park
Experience:
- Audio, talk show production and writing across various topic areas for IPR as a talk show producer
- Has reported and written features on local government in Story County for the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register
- Is a multi-award-winning producer and reporter, including an Eric Sevareid award for her work on "50 years since Title IX, Iowa women share how the law impacted them" and Iowa Newspaper Association awards for best breaking news story, government reporting, best news story and best news feature story
- Served as a mentor for NPR’s Next Generation Radio in Iowa
My Favorite Stories
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The 108th annual Meskwaki Powwow takes place this weekend. It’s a four-day celebration of Meskwaki culture and tradition where everyone is welcome.
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Some parents struggle to see their children leave the home, while others see it as a new and exciting phase of their life. Empty nesters share their experiences
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In the 1980s, an Iowa City art teacher wrote to Keith Haring not expecting a response. This resulted in a friendship and two visits by Haring to Horn Elementary.
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A now retired school principal, Iowa's own Kittie Weston-Knauer picked up BMX racing at 40, when she was one of two women in the country racing in her age group.
My Latest Stories
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This Iowan was the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College. She lived to be a supercentenarian, dying in 2026.
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Sonja Strathearn has turned her passion for Jane Austen into an art project, sewing and collecting Regency-era costumes for Austen conventions halfway across the world.
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Expert readers share the best new fiction and nonfiction books to give and receive in this holiday season.
My Latest Podcasts
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Former ambassador to Venezuela Jimmy Story talks with Ben Kieffer about the country's regime change through U.S. military force and what it could mean for Latin America. Then, the murder of Jeff Signorelli has stuck with Willy Nast for decades. Nast released a podcast, City of Lights, which doesn't dig into the cold case, but follows the lives of the victim's parents.
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As the Olympics near, we spotlight curling — a sport often forgotten outside of the winter games, but one that thrives year-round in eastern Iowa. We hear from Emily Nelson, marketing and communications coordinator for Cedar Rapids Curling, on the sport’s history, its Olympic influence and why watching elite curlers inspires local players. Then, Charity Nebbe goes out on the ice with Kari Kozak, a founding member and events coordinator of Cedar Rapids Curling, for a crash course in sweeping and throwing stones. Later, historian Ricki King joins discusses her work preserving Iowa’s Black history amid efforts to rewrite or erase it.
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On this Newsbuzz episode, IPR's Josie Fischels shares her reporting on how immigration enforcement is keeping artists from the Midwest. We also get a legislative update from IPR's Katarina Sostaric, with proposals to end vaccine requirements and expand a ban on LGBTQ+ materials in schools. The Gazette's Grace King talks about proposed school closures in the Cedar Rapids school district, Iowa writer Christina Fernandez-Morrow on the impact of Bad Bunny's Grammy win and Studio One host Tressa Glass shares new tunes from Mitski and Noah Kahan.