
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – NPR (National Public Radio) show hosts Debbie Elliott and Robert Siegel will be special guests for an anniversary event to celebrate 25 years of The University of Alabama’s WUAL public radio station broadcasting in Tuscaloosa and West Alabama.
On Jan. 4, 1982, WUAL signed on the air, receiving its NPR network feed by land line from WBHM in Birmingham.
APR (Alabama Public Radio) will mark WUAL’s birthday on Jan. 25 with NPR show hosts Elliott and Siegel as special guests at an anniversary event to be held at the Bama Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Bama Theatre. The event, a kickoff to a year-long APR celebration, is open to the public.
In September 2005, Elliott became the new host of NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered. For more than 20 years, Elliott has been reporting from her native South. A cum laude graduate of the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, Elliott first worked in public radio during college. She hosted local news breaks during NPR’s Morning Edition at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, where she eventually became news director. In 2000, she was recognized as the C&IS Outstanding Alumna in Telecommunication and Film.
Since joining NPR in 1995, Elliott has covered the re-opening of Civil-Rights-Era murder cases, the legal battle over the Ten Commandments at the Alabama Supreme Court, the Elian Gonzales custody dispute from Miami, local homeland security initiatives, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and a number of hurricanes. She was a part of NPR series on girls and the juvenile justice system, the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, science and the courts, and homework.
Elliott was also NPR’s specialist on tobacco litigation. She has covered landmark smoker lawsuits, the tobacco settlement with states, tobacco-control policy, and the latest trends in youth smoking. In addition to her work with NPR, she has filed reports internationally for the BBC, the CBC and the former Monitor Radio

Robert Siegel, a senior host of NPR’s award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered, got started in radio news when he was a college freshman in 1964.
A graduate of New York’s Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University, Siegel began his career in radio at the college radio station WKCR-FM where he anchored coverage of the 1968 Columbia demonstrations. The station’s work received an award from the Writers Guild of America East.
As a host, Siegel has reported from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Israel. He now concentrates on domestic stories. During the fall of 1992, Siegel took a short leave from the show to anchor Talk of the Nation, NPR’s nationwide live call-in program.
Before joining All Things Considered in 1987, Siegel served for four years as director of NPR’s News and Information Department, overseeing production of NPR’s newsmagazines All Things Considered and Morning Edition, as well as special events and other news programming. During his tenure, NPR launched its popular Saturday and Sunday newsmagazine Weekend Edition. Siegel joined NPR in December 1976 as an associate producer, and was appointed public affairs editor in 1977 and senior editor in 1978. In 1979, Siegel was chosen to open NPR’s London bureau, where he worked as senior editor until 1983.
APR will host additional celebratory activities throughout the year including a concert with Will Kimbrough and The Avett Brothers on March 31 at the Bama Theatre. This November, through a partnership with the Tuscaloosa Arts Council, APR will bring well-known bluegrass artist, Claire Lynch to Tuscaloosa.
Contact
Meesha Emmett or Linda Hill, UA Public Relations, lhill@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-8325
Source
Kathy Henslee or Jesssica Deyo, APR (Alabama Public Radio), 205/348-2687