Rob Sivak
Interim senior producer, MiddayRob Sivak is interim senior producer for Midday, with host Tom Hall. Recently retired after a seven-year stint as a Midday producer, Rob joined WYPR in 2015 as senior producer of Hall's previous show, Maryland Morning (which aired its final broadcast on September 16th, 2016). Before coming to the station, 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 New York City, United Nations and Los Angeles bureaus, Rob spent two decades covering international food, farming and nutrition issues for VOA's 180-million worldwide listeners, and created and hosted several popular VOA science magazines. At Midday, he continued to pursue his passion for radio and his abiding interests in science, health, technology and politics.
Rob grew up as an ex-pat "oil brat" 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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Ivan Bates has long been a critic of MONSE, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. -
Dr. Michelle Taylor is from Memphis, Tennessee, where she previously ran the region's public health department. -
The National Aquarium is approaching a half century on Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Retiring CEO John Racanelli joins us to discuss what comes next. -
Ernestina Simmons, Director of the Mayor's Office of Homeless Services, joins us to discuss her agency's efforts to provide shelter and resources for the growing numbers of unhoused in Baltimore. -
Led by Orioles Hall-of-Famer BJ Surhoff and his wife Polly, whose adult son Mason is autistic, the Maryland non-profit supports other families with autistic children and fosters public understanding of ASD. -
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. -
UBalt Law professor Kim Wehle, a Substack host and media commentator, contends that the Trump Administration's abuses of constitutional law are undermining the foundations of American democracy. -
John Shields and Damian Mosely, two of Baltimore's most successful chefs, join Tom in Studio A to share favorite Thanksgiving recipes and answer listener questions about fixing the big holiday meal. -
Indian-American novelist Megha Majumdar's new work tells the story of two families set on a collision course by a looming climate catastrophe. -
NYTimes reporter David Gelles sizes up the UN's contentious climate meeting, and discusses his new book about a billionaire CEO who's giving it all away to save the planet.
