Rob Sivak
Interim senior producer, MiddayRob Sivak was Midday's senior producer from 2016-2023. In August, 2025, he was called out of retirement to assist the Midday team during Baltimore Public Media's search for a new executive producer.
Rob first joined WYPR in 2015 as senior producer of Midday host Tom Hall's previous show, Maryland Morning, which aired its final broadcast in September, 2016.
Before coming to WYPR, Rob enjoyed a 36-year career at the congressionally funded global broadcaster, Voice of America. At VOA, he honed his skills as a news and feature reporter, producer, editor and program host.
After reporting assignments at VOA's Washington DC, New York City, United Nations and Los Angeles bureaus, Rob spent two decades covering global food, farming and nutrition issues for VOA's then-360-million-strong worldwide audience, and created and hosted several popular VOA science shows. At WYPR, he continued to pursue his passion for radio and his abiding interests in science, public health, technology and politics.
Rob grew up as an ex-pat "oil brat" in Dhahran, on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, and studied and traveled widely in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. He attended Hofstra University in New York and Boston University's School of Public Communications. Rob and his wife Caroline Barnes, a writer, live in Silver Spring, Maryland, where they've raised three daughters.
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Karl Alexander, a No Kings Day organizer, joins us with perspectives on next Saturday's planned street demonstrations here in Baltimore and across the nation. -
Shari Bailey, who founded Laila's Gift, explains why her non-profit is supporting a bill to build new and stronger protections for citizens with mental disabilities like dementia or autism. -
WYPR's State House reporter Sarah Petrowich updates us on which proposals have been passed by the House and Senate in time for Monday's Crossover Day deadline. -
WYPR reporter Wambui Kamau tells us about the entrepreneur who's making waves in the hair-braiding space with her salon in Bowie that's open for business 24/7. -
Imam Yaseen Shaikh with the Islamic Society of Baltimore says that as war rages in the Middle East, his Muslim community is marking Ramadan's end with both sadness and joy. -
WYPR's Baltimore County reporter John Lee joins us to size up the county's crowded primary election field, plus key questions facing the council and the General Assembly. -
Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews the new Motte & Bailey production of "Caesar / Americana" at the Fells Point Corner Theatre -
John Davis, host of MotorWeek, TV's longest running automotive series, joins us with tips on car care, and insights on the fast-changing global auto industry. -
Each week here on Midday, it is our practice to read the names of the people who have lost their lives to violence in Baltimore City. -
Iranian-born political analyst Trita Parsi, and two local members of the Iranian diaspora in America join Tom to discuss the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.
