Aspen Public Radio announces new staff change

After nearly four years as a reporter and the local host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Aspen Public Radio (APR), Eleanor Bennett is leaving, and the station is welcoming in a new voice: award-winning journalist and long-time local Megan Tackett, according to an APR press release. 

Bennett will be heading to Vermont for a summer-long, Spanish-intensive program to bring more diverse language skills into her reporting, the release states. Her last day on the air is Friday, May 10. 

“Eleanor’s departure is a great loss to the station,” said APR’s news director Kelsey Brunner in the press release. “She comes with a lifetime of knowledge of the Roaring Fork Valley, with so many deep connections throughout our community, and has been the voice of local ‘Morning Edition’ programming for years.” 

She added, “However, it also comes with a lot of pride that she’s going on to improve her Spanish and enhance her reporting skills after spending a lot of time covering the stories of Venezuelan immigrants in Carbondale with her colleagues. Eleanor has focused a lot of her reporting and storytelling work here in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys within the Spanish-speaking community and this is a wonderful next step in her own journey as a journalist.”

“It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience to be a reporter in the community I grew up in, and I’m excited to pass the ‘Morning Edition’ torch to a local journalist who cares so deeply about this place,” Bennett said in the release.

Tackett is the former editor of the Aspen Daily News where she spearheaded the launch of el Sol del Valle, the valley’s weekly Spanish-language newspaper, which APR helps produce in collaboration with seven other local newsrooms here in the Roaring Fork Valley, according to the release.

“Although we will really miss Eleanor, we’re also so excited to be bringing on another long-time local as ‘Morning Edition’ host in her stead,” Brunner said in the release. “Megan joins us after an extensive history covering Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley and we couldn’t be happier that she’s joining our team to keep morning listeners informed with local, regional, and national news as they begin each weekday. Megan brings an infectious excitement to any room and a love for this area that’s palpable.”

Tackett is ecstatic to be joining APR, according to the release, saying: “I am thrilled to join the Aspen Public Radio team as the host of ‘Morning Edition,’ and I’m especially excited to be working alongside such a remarkably talented group of journalists. One of my favorite aspects of living in the Roaring Fork Valley is our genuine appreciation of local news as a community value. One of the things I don’t love is the congested morning commute, so if I can inspire a smile or bring a bit of insight to our listeners’ drives — even when the traffic gods aren’t playing nice — all the better.”

“We have high hopes for the future of our station and the continued legacy of amazing journalists under our roof,” Brunner expressed in the press release.

Tackett’s first day on the air is Monday, May 13.