Irwin Gratz
Morning Edition Host and ProducerIrwin was born and reared in New York City and, while he never hiked miles to school, he did walk up six flights of stairs every day to the apartment his family lived in until he was nearly 19. Irwin remains a lover of subway rides, egg creams, and the New York Mets.
He moved to Maine in 1978 and worked a dozen years in commercial radio in Sanford, then Portland, before beginning to freelance for Maine Public Radio in 1990. He has been the local anchor of Morning Edition since September 1992.
Irwin served as chairman of the Maine Association of Broadcasters in 2015. From September 2004 to October 2005, Irwin served as national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s largest and most broad-based journalism organization. He holds a master’s in journalism from New York University. Irwin won a Yankee Quill Award in 2011 from the New England Newspaper and Press Association for his “broad influence for good, both inside and outside the newsroom.”
Irwin also has an interest in astronomy, which he indulges to this day as an occasional show presenter at the Southworth Planetarium in Portland. And he swims, a lot. Irwin has completed seven Peaks Island-to-Portland swims. Irwin is married and has a teenage son.
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First time claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly in the latest week
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Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show wage gains for workers in Cumberland and York counties running ahead of inflation
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Maine's July unemployment rate remained at 2.4%.
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The two public safety departments will practice how they would coordinate response to an active shooter situation
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The Maine-Nova Scotia high-speed service continues to outpace last year's ticket sales, though the province is preparing to study its economic worth.
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Midcoast Rail Service, which has a contract to operate on the state's Rockland Branch, is planning to make more short excursion runs between Bath and Wiscassett.
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The Maine Historical Society has opened an exhibit about a 1936 flood that affected much of New England and generated early aerial photojournalism in Maine
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The Portsmouth, New Hampshire, urban area, including York, Eliot and Kittery, Maine, had a 1.7% jobless rate in June, one of the lowest in the U.S.
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Governor Mills has signed into law a bill that calls for construction of fencing along the Penobscot Narrows bridge that's meant to deter suicide attempts.
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Callaghan, who will retire at the end of this week after 43 years in television news, said in an interview that he initially envisioned a different future for himself in broadcasting: spinning his favorite records. He went on to cover a shuttle disaster in Florida, peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and countless other things back here in Maine.