Krasny Stepping Down From KQED’s ‘Forum’
• Legendary Bay Area radio broadcaster, author and academic Michael Krasny, who has enjoyed a nearly three-decades-long tenure as host of Forum on KQED/San Francisco, is stepping down from regular hosting duties on February 15, 2021.
“Michael is a Bay Area jewel,” says Holly Kernan, KQED’s Chief Content Officer. “His is a model public service career and he has brought depth, compassion and the expertise of a literature professor to the airwaves on a daily basis. Forum shows how a regional public affairs program can serve listeners with reasoned and thoughtful dialogue that cuts across so many disciplines and important issues.”
Krasny’s broadcasting career began in the late ’70s as host of a weekly program on KTIM-FM, a small Marin County rock station. In 1983 he transitioned to ABC/San Francisco, working at KGO-AM and on local television. He joined KQED in 1993 as host of Forum, the award-winning daily call-in radio program that addresses local and national news, politics, culture, health, public affairs, art and culture and technology. Today, Forum ranks consistently at the top of the Bay Area’s drive-time radio rankings and is one of the top-ranked regional programs in all of public media, with a weekly average of 246,000 radio listeners and another 70,000 who listen online or download the podcast.
“I want to thank all of the listeners, guests and exceptional colleagues I’ve had the great fortune to encounter over the years as host of Forum,” says Krasny, who is also a Professor of English at San Francisco State University. “I’ve been unusually fortunate to sustain such a long career serving the Bay Area in a role that allows me to participate in such rich and thoughtful conversations about the topics of our times.” Krasny plans to enjoy his retirement with family, including his first grandchild, to focus on writing and to explore other opportunities.
• KQED will conduct a thorough national search for Krasny’s successor. Mina Kim will continue to host the 10am hour of Forum, which focuses on statewide issues and is distributed to stations across California.
