Staff

APRN’s reporters are based in Anchorage, Juneau and Washington, D.C. Additional reporters are employed by and located at APRN member stations all across Alaska. Reporter profiles are presented below. Other staff (technical, financial, etc.) are noted at the APTI site.

Duncan Moon

News Director
dmoon [at] aprn [dot] org

Duncan Moon began his career in broadcast journalism at Monitor Radio (a former division of the Christian Science Monitor) in 1985 as an editorial assistant. He rose through the ranks as reporter, producer, editor and foreign correspondent. He covered the first Palestinian Intifadeh from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip; covered the first Bush-Gorbachev summit in Moscow; reported from Berlin on the fall of the Berlin Wall and German Unification and covered the first Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Southern Iraq. Duncan also went on to serve as Washington Bureau Chief, Senior International Editor and Managing Editor for Monitor Radio. When Monitor Radio closed in 1997, he joined National Public Radio as a Supervising Editor and then as Religion Correspondent (sample story). His work on Islam in America was featured in NPR’s successful bids for the 2001 Peabody and Overseas Press Club awards, which NPR won for its coverage of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Unable to resist the lure of Alaska, Duncan accepted the position of Managing Editor of APRN and Executive Producer of AK in January 2003 and added the titles of News Director of KSKA-FM and KAKM-TV in July 2004.

Annie Feidt

Editor / Producer, Alaska News Nightly
afeidt [at] aprn [dot] org

Annie Feidt started her journalism career in 1997 at CNN Headline News, where she mastered the art of the teleprompter and learned to whittle down complex stories to 100 words or less. A yearning to tackle more in-depth reporting convinced her to accept a job at Minnesota Public Radio where she produced the regional edition of All Things Considered for five years. Feidt left Minnesota in 2003 to follow winter around the world for ten months. When she returned, she wanted to get back into radio but wasn’t ready to give up the cold weather and easy access to adventure so she joined APRN’s staff in November 2004.

Lori Townsend

Reporter / Host, Alaska News Nightly
ltownsend [at] aprn [dot] org

Lori Townsend got her start in broadcasting at the age of 11 as the park announcer of the fast pitch baseball games in Deer Park, Wisconsin.

She has worked in print and broadcast journalism for more than 15 years. She was the co-founder and former Editor of Northern Aspects, a magazine featuring northern Wisconsin writers and artists. She worked for 7 years at tribal station WOJB on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibway Reservation in Wisconsin, first as an on-air programmer and special projects producer and eventually News Director.

In 1997 she co-hosted a continuing Saturday afternoon public affairs talk program on station KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Radio brought her to Alaska and she helped co-found the non-profit broadcast company Native Voice Communications with veteran Alaskan broadcasters Nellie Moore, D’Anne Hamilton, Len Anderson, Sharon McConnell and Veronica Iya. NVC created the award-winning Independent Native News as well as producing many other documentaries and productions. Townsend was NVC’s technical trainer and assistant producer of INN.

Through her freelance work, she has produced news and feature stories nationally and internationally for Independent Native News, National Native News, NPR , Pacifica, Monitor Radio, Radio Netherlands and AIROS. Her print work and interviews have been published in News from Indian Country, Yakama Nation Review and other publications. Ms. Townsend has also worked as a broadcast trainer for the Native American Journalist’s Association and with NPR’s Doug Mitchell and as a freelance editor. Townsend is the recipient of numerous awards for her work from the Alaska Press Club, the Native American Journalists Association and a gold and a silver reel award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

She is an avid reader, a rabid gardener and counts water skiing, training horses, diving and a welding certification among her past and current interests.

Steve Heimel

Reporter / Host, Alaska Morning News, Alaska Economic Report, Talk of Alaska
sheimel [at] aprn [dot] org

Steve Heimel has spent more than 23 years at APRN. He was educated in art academies and remains a practicing artist. He has been a tireless advocate for innovation in public broadcasting since moving to it from commercial broadcasting in 1974, where he worked at the top stations in two of the nation’s top ten radio markets — KILT in Houston and WDVR in Philadelphia. He has been a consultant for the NPR Training Channel, Pocahontas Broadcasting and CPB’s Mid-Level Producers’ Workshops. He was one of the founders of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and Audio Independents. He led the first journalist’s exchange mission to the Soviet Far East in 1989. He has walked 1,300 miles of the Appalachian Trail and is writing a memoir, entitled “It’s Only Radio.” He also hosts “The Truck Stop,” a Sunday afternoon traditional American music program on public radio station KNBA in Anchorage.

Len Anderson

Anchorage Municipal Reporter, KSKA and APRN
landerson [at] kska [dot] org

Len Anderson is a second-generation broadcaster who put off his eventual slide into the profession by teaching English and Scandinavian Studies for six years at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. He has also taught at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin and at University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue, Alaska. After working in commercial radio Len joined public radio in 1977 via KEYA, located on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. In 1979 he moved to KOTZ in Kotzebue, Alaska. During his 16 years in the far north, he also edited the Arctic Sounder newspaper. Len moved south to Anchorage in 1994 and was freelancing until joining KNBA’s news department where he helped produce and occasionally host National Native News and Native America Calling - Wellness Edition. Len left to help create Native Voice Communications and Independent Native News. He joined KSKA and the APRN News team in June 2003.

Joel Southern

Washington, D.C. Correspondent
jsouthern [at] aprn [dot] org
202-488-1961

Joel Southern has been a radio journalist since 1987 and a radio broadcaster since 1981. He has been the Washington, D.C. correspondent for APRN since 1991 and previously provided freelance reports to APRN while working at a small DC radio news service. In covering Alaska, Joel has traveled the state from Ketchikan to Barrow, from Seward to Fairbanks and the length of the Iditarod Trail. His favorite places include Denali National Park, Seward and Hatcher Pass.

Joel’s first experiences reporting on Alaska issues included coverage of the Reagan Administration plan for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and the numerous congressional hearings that followed the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Over the years, he has delved into the history of laws such as the Statehood Act, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act and the Alaska Lands Act to get and give a better understanding of the federal-state issues that affect the lives of Alaskans.

Joel is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and attended Wake Forest University from 1978 to 1982 where he also worked at the public radio station as an announcer and production manager. Joel completed his Master’s Degree in Journalism and Public Affairs at the American University in 1987.

Dave Donaldson

Capitol Correspondent (Juneau)
ddonaldson [at] aprn [dot] org
907-586-6948 voice
Dave Donaldson first came to Alaska to cover state government in early 1991 — a month after the beginning of the Wally Hickel administration. He is now one of the senior reporters stationed at the capitol where he has followed more than 17 legislative sessions and four different governors.Dave’s background in radio began in North Carolina where he worked for the North Carolina News Network — a commercial radio news organization with more than 80 affiliates. There, he worked as anchor, producer and reporter. During that time, he also did freelance work for WUNC in Chapel Hill and soon found he preferred the public radio format and presentation over commercial newscasts.

Donaldson lives in Juneau year-round with his wife. His two children are grown.

Jessica Cochran

Producer, AK
jcochran [at] aprn [dot] org

Jessica grew up listening to NPR in Washington D.C., hopped north and west to earn a degree in anthropology from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota and continued the northwest journey to Alaska in 1996. She has worked for APRN since 1997, serving as a general assignment reporter, Alaska News Nightly producer and Talk of Alaska producer. Since 2003 she has produced APRN’s weekend program — AK — a show she helped develop, and says it is definitely the most fun of all her APRN duties.

Rebecca Sheir

Reporter / Host, AK
rsheir [at] aprn [dot] org

Rebecca came to Alaska by way of Iowa City, where she received her MFA from the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program in May 2006; her thesis, an audio documentary on the Jewish view of death, went on to win the Directors Choice Award at the 2006 Third Coast International Audio Festival. While in the heartland, Rebecca worked at WSUI, Eastern Iowa’s NPR news station, and designed and taught the undergraduate radio essay/commentary course, “Radio Voices.” Before moving to Iowa, Rebecca lived in New York City, where she received her BA from Columbia University and worked in off-Broadway theater production and casting. Her work has aired on NPR, the BBC and numerous public radio stations across the country.

Ellen Lockyer

Reporter, APRN - Matanuska-Susitna Borough and AK
elockyer [at] aprn [dot] org

Ellen got her start in journalism on rural Alaska print weeklies like the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times during the 1980’s. She jumped ship in Valdez in 1989, joining KCHU’s public radio news team during the hectic days after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. After four years at the station’s Cordova bureau, Lockyer left Prince William Sound for Anchorage in 1992. Once there, she free-lanced for fishing industry publications and worked for a number of radio clients, like KSKA, KTNA and APRN. Lockyer joined APRN’s news staff as an Anchorage reporter in 1995. Since then, she has covered everything from state politics to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Her work has taken her from Attu Island to Arctic Village. Outside the newsroom, Lockyer has worked as a trainer for Koahnic Broadcasting’s Alaska Native Youth Media Institute and has served as president of the Alaska Press Club. At present, Ellen is a reporter for AK.

David Shurtleff

Reporter, APRN and Weekend News
dshurtleff [at] aprn [dot] org

David came to Alaska in spring 2006 after several successful years at New Hampshire Public Radio, and he’s quickly made a mark on APRN’s newsroom. Perhaps best known (so far) for chasing down Tom Anderson following his legislative corruption conviction outside the federal court house in Anchorage, David is a tireless reporter and covers everything from Alaska’s lone elephant to backcountry operations of the Alaska Railroad and the collapse of Matanuska Maid.

In addition to a variety of reporting assignments during the week, David also manages APRN’s weekend newscasts provided to stations statewide.

Scott Burton

Reporter, AK
sburton [at] aprn [dot] org

Scott’s interest in reporting fermented during a three-year period living and traveling in Asia. An early blogger, he “group e-mailed” (as it was called back in the 20th century) stories of his adventures which included hitchhiking the length of Japan, slaughtering a sheep in Mongolia and pickin’ banjo at the world’s highest monastery in Tibet.

After positive feedback on his stories — which he can’t remember if he received or made up for himself — Burton decided he wanted to become a writer. On the way, he worked as a snowboard patroller, a teacher of English as a second language, a care provider for people with abilities and disabilities, a bartender, a laborer in construction and landscape, a naturalist, a freelance writer, a bluegrass musician, a volunteer DJ and most prestigiously, a partially-employed stay-at-home boyfriend.

Scott inherited his love for storytelling from his dad and a magnetism for people from his mom. Folks like Jeff Brown and Katie Bausler at Juneau’s KTOO FM guided his path to public radio and helped him realize it’s the perfect medium for expression.

Scott also works as a bluegrass musician in the band Bluegrass 101, a freelance writer and columnist for the Juneau Empire, and as a part-time naturalist in a nearby elementary school for Discovery Southeast.

Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN) is a public service of Alaska Public Telecommunications, Inc. (APTI)
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