Jim Russell's Bio

Jim Russell is senior vice president of Minnesota Public Radio and general manager of Marketplace Productions. He created Marketplace, one of the most successful radio or TV programs about business today. He's an award-winning journalist, creative producer, and seasoned executive. His experience encompasses 35 years -- in commercial radio, print, public radio, and television -- including working as a correspondent during the Vietnam War. Following his return from Vietnam, Russell joined NPR as one of the network's first correspondents.

His reporting won two Ohio State Awards and two National Headliner Awards, and was part of the coverage that won a duPont-Columbia Award for NPR. Russell advanced to be producer and later executive producer of All Things Considered. By the time he left NPR in 1978, Russell was in charge of a staff of 60 reporters, editors, and producers in Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. He supervised All Things Considered, NPR newscasts, and NPR events coverage, and he helped lead the early development of the new Morning Edition.

His other awards include the Peabody Award and an Emmy for the public television program Newton's Apple. In 1988, Russell launched Marketplace. He is currently executive producer of a new weekend magazine called Public Radio Weekend.

  Public Radio Weekend [intro] (01.43). Download: MP3 [1.5mb]
Web Site & Pilot Two
Whole Original Pilot
  Mr. Saturday Night
  Rental Cars & Penn Jillette on Bruce Springsteen
  Good Morning, Mr. President
  Moon Pie Festival
  Picking up the thread of a story