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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Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck spotlights the Folger's new production of Shakespeare's magical comedy, staged at the National Building Museum. -
Co-creators Tom Ventimiglia and Adam Rodgers discuss why their locally-produced satire about three stay-at-home dads has been so successful. -
The president of the city's downtown business-community alliance talks about the sponsored BOOST program to promote Black-owned retail businesses in downtown neighborhoods. -
The Baltimore real estate and community developer talks about her company's new plan to connect people in low-income communities with employment opportunities. -
The families of US hostages and Americans falsely held in foreign prisons discuss their campaigns to bring their loved ones home. -
The associate professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law joins us with insights on three pending legal cases with profound implications for the city. -
Midday's theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck spotlights the powerful bio-musical at Arena Stage about the life of renowned 19th-century civil rights activist Frederick Douglass. -
Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday joins us to help us make sense of director Jordan Peele's new sci-fi horror film, and spotlight some other great new summer movies. -
ROCA, a violence interruption organization, is helping city youth get training and work from corporate partners such as businessman Lenzie Johnson's local waste recycling company. -
In this month's Midday with the Mayor, Mayor Scott recaps National Night Out, his Public Safety Report, squeegee worker programs and new allocations for American Rescue Plan funds.
