Rob Sivak
Contributing producer, MiddayRob Sivak is a contributing producer for Midday, with host Tom Hall. Recently retired after a seven-year stint as Midday's senior 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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A report by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council proposes a new regional commission to fund and administer rail and bus lines for the greater Baltimore region. Three men with with keen insights into those plans join us to explain. -
President Biden, Gov. Moore and Mayor Scott on Monday called the new Tunnel project a boon to regional transit and local jobs. Today, perspectives from a Banner reporter, and a local tunnel opponent. -
Lisa Ramsden, Senior Plastics Campaigner at Greenpeace USA and Jennifer Congdon, Deputy Director of Beyond Plastics, discuss how we're choking on the ubiquitous material, and how we can move to a plastic-free world. -
Donell Barnett, president of the Association of Black Psychologists, joins us to discuss how the latest police killing of a young Black man has inflicted new trauma on the African American community. -
The acclaimed essayist and travel writer discusses his latest book, a globe-spanning exploration of sacred cities, and mankind's endless search for spiritual fulfillment. -
![The cast of the Spotlighters Theatre’s production of “[title of show].” featuring Neva Keuroglian Sullivan (second from left, in pink top) and Natalie Stolurow (in grey). (photo credit: Spotlighters Theatre / machpe Photography)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f7bd438/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1100x613+0+14/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb0%2F4e%2F575c264146b19debe334d6f7e47f%2Ftitle-of-show-1.jpg)
Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews a new musical-in-a musical that's an ode to the creative process. -
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle's co-founder details what bills the Black community advocacy group wants passed in the current MD General Assembly session. -
Darryl Williams says he won't seek a second term as Baltimore Co. Public Schools Superintendent this June. WYPR's John Lee discusses the reasons why, and what's next for BCPS. -
As classified documents continue to turn up where they shouldn't, a White House reporter and an expert on the nation's broken classification system join us to discuss what's going on... -
The issue of whether, or how, transgender athletes should compete in women's sports has sparked heated debate, not just in the sports world but along the nation's partisan divide. Two top athletes, one cisgender, one trans, join us to explain their opposing views.
![The cast of the Spotlighters Theatre’s production of “[title of show].” featuring Neva Keuroglian Sullivan (second from left, in pink top) and Natalie Stolurow (in grey). (photo credit: Spotlighters Theatre / machpe Photography)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ce720a6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1100x613+0+14/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb0%2F4e%2F575c264146b19debe334d6f7e47f%2Ftitle-of-show-1.jpg)
