Sue Schardt's Bio

In an industry which variously attracts creativity and intelligence, Sue Schardt deploys both in imaginative combinations and diverse applications.

Sue Schardt has impeccable radio roots -- she followed in her father's footsteps -- he was a radioman for nearly 40 years -- and began her own career producing, reporting, and directing at Boston's WBUR nearly 15 years ago. She later became Director of Special Projects at the commercial Knight Network and eventually joined Monitor Radio for a seven-year stint as Director of Marketing and Development.

Four and a half years ago she founded SchardtMEDIA, and has become a proudly independent trendsetter in public radio. And she's never let go of the microphone -- Sue is now in her thirteenth year hosting "In the Margin of the Other" on WMBR in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Among her many successes, Sue was instrumental in launching public radio's first mid-day news program, picked up honors from the Association of Women in Radio and Television for a regional network series, "Breaking the Violence Silence", written signal essays in Current, and shepherded ground-breaking and award-winning projects and programs, including Public Interactive, From the Top, and The DNA Files.

But a standard biographical recitation hardly does justice to the more sublime sensibilities Sue Schardt brings to the medium. Her papers are as likely to cite the philosophical musings of Italian writer Italo Calvino as the Radio Research Commission. She commands statistical minutia, but makes it subservient to an over-arching mission: "to create and support initiatives that embrace the ideals of service, trust, enlightenment, and making the world a better place."

Her triumphs therefore become something that is shared with a larger community. And each of her achievements is not just an inspiration, but a new door opened for more smart, original radio.

That's a bonus for independent producers. And now Sue has warmly agreed to share her expert insights with AIR colleagues.

Audio
  In The Margin of the Other [promo] (00.48). Download: MP3 [0.8mb]