Start Here / Never Stop Podcast: Parth Shah '15

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumnus Parth Shah '15  is the second-ever graduate of the Hussman School to receive the prestigious Kroc Fellowship from National Public Radio. 

The Kroc Fellowship Program selects three aspiring public radio journalists each year to receive writing instruction for both on-air and radio performance, as well as training in pitching news stories, finding sources, booking interviews, reporting stories and working in the studio.

Shah started at UNC as a biology major but reconsidered after he heard NPR reporter Ari Shapiro speak on campus.

“Listening to him speak about his career and life inspired me. I wanted to do what he was doing — traveling the world, meeting new people and creating radio,” Shah said. “I changed my major to journalism, got an internship at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR News Source, and took a summer news writing course.”

While at UNC, Shah was involved in the school’s award-winning radio news magazine, Carolina Connection, and began producing radio features. As a student, he also founded a South Asian affairs magazine called Monsoon.

During his time with Carolina Connection, Shah said that Hussman School instructor and former NPR correspondent Adam Hochberg taught him how to pitch compelling stories, overcome his fear of performing an interview and find sound in unexpected places.

Shaj completed the Lee Ester News Fellowship at Wisconsin Public Radio, where he spent nearly a year as a general assignment reporter in Madison, Wisconsin. Shah is also the founder and host of Hyphen, a podcast about identity.

Currently, Shah is a producer at NPR working on Hidden Brain, a social science podcast and radio show which links research from psychology and neurobiology with findings from economics, anthropology and sociology, among other fields.

Apply for the Kroc Fellowship by Sunday, Dec. 31

Check out more Start Here / Never Stop Podcast episodes at mj.unc.edu/SHNSPodcast.