Ned Wharton, NPR Biography
Senior Producer and Music Director, Weekend Edition Sunday
As senior producer and music director of Weekend Edition Sunday, Ned Wharton supervises music continuity for the show, keeps tabs on what's new and noteworthy in the music world and produces many of the artist features heard on the program. Wharton also presents occasional reviews of new releases on a segment called "Directors Cuts" on Weekend Edition Sunday. For Wharton, "NPR, and specifically Weekend Edition Sunday, offer some of the finest music profiles heard on any broadcast medium."
Wharton came to NPR in 1989 to work as an arts editor/producer for Performance Today, NPR's daily classical music program. After six months, he moved to his current post.
Over the course of his work with NPR, he's met in person, over a satellite link, or in our performance studio, some of his musical idols, including Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, Richard Thompson, Laurie Anderson, and Peter Gabriel. It's been a highlight of his work with NPR. "Also extremely gratifying is the opportunity to spark the careers of lesser-known musicians, such as the surf-noir band Big Lazy or the terrific Maine singer/songwriter Carol Noonan," he explains.
Before coming to NPR, Wharton worked at WNYC, New York, where he hosted a new music program called Mixdown, hosted chamber music concert broadcasts from the Frick Collection, produced music features, and filled in on various and sundry classical shifts. Before that, Wharton spent a year in Paris hosting and producing "New Directions in Europe," a 13-part series that highlighted new music activity in France, Germany, and Italy. He began his radio career in 1979 at the college station, KFJM in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He graduated with a speech degree with an emphasis in radio and minored in music and French.
In addition to his work in radio, Wharton has also worked as a record producer. His credits include the CD gListen by the New York band Songs from a Random House (Bar/None Records) and I Heard It on NPR: Singers, Songs & Sessions, a collection of live performances recorded in NPR's Studio 4A . He has served as a panelist at the South by Southwest music festival as well as the NON-COMMvention radio and music industry gathering. Wharton keeps up ties with his roots in North Dakota, serving on the Board of Trustees at the International Music Camp at the Peace Garden on the Canadian border.
Wharton lives in Arlington, Va. He notes, "My wife is a flight attendant for American Airlines and we love to travel around the world with our globe-trotting son Robert." He also tries to bike to work each day.
