Andrew Henderson has joined Louisville Public Media as the audience editor for NPR’s Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom partnership.
The collaboration aims to strengthen local news coverage and bring more stories from this region to the rest of the country. The hub brings together journalists from WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee; Louisville Public Media, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky; and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Andrew was born in Olive Hill, Kentucky and graduated from Western Kentucky University. He technically started his journalism career in 2013 at his high school newspaper, The Comets’ Tale, but he humbly asks you to forget that was ever something he did. At WKU, he was on staff of the College Heights Herald and was editor-in-chief.
After graduating, he joined the staff of The Oldham Era, a weekly newspaper in Oldham County, where he later became editor. He was most recently the deputy audience editor for McClatchy Media’s mid-sized and smaller news markets where he worked closely with the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Get to know Andrew:
What are some of your favorite things about Appalachia?
The food is a big one for me. It’s nigh impossible to separate the culture and upbringing of people, whether in Appalachia or elsewhere, without considering the cuisine. Just the other day I was talking with a friend about how a favorite meal of mine remains, to this day, salmon patties, pinto beans and cornbread. Odds are you’ve got a favorite too, so go ahead and tell me yours by shooting an email over to ahenderson@lpm.org and I’ll work it into a future newsletter (I’m really putting in the work here).
I feel like it goes without saying, but the natural beauty of the region cannot be understated and is another favorite of mine. I specifically have a deep appreciation for Kentucky’s state park system. When I was four, I donned the front page of the Carter Caves State Park brochure. This brochure is considered a collector’s item (to me) and will be auctioned off with my estate at some point in the future.
What can listeners expect from your work in the coming year?
Right now I’m laser focused on launching the Porch Light newsletter early next month. That free email newsletter is going to be a big digital project for our work across the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom. Not only do I want to share the news from around the region with our readers, but I also want Porch Light to be a fun experience where I can share some tidbits of history and culture of this place many of us call home. I’d appreciate it if you signed up for that newsletter. Also, I’ll probably make some whacky videos where I try to be funny and cross my fingers you laugh.
Is it true you won a life-sized Scooby Doo plush animal from Dairy Queen?
Yes, that is true. You’ve done a very good job of researching my background. When I was a wee lad, the Olive Hill Dairy Queen (there’s only one, you can’t miss it) held a raffle for a life-sized Scooby Doo plush. Now, it was life-sized compared to me, a six-year-old boy, but not life-sized when next to, say, a 30-year-old man. I won the raffle and was riding high. Sadly, the plush made my allergies flare up something awful so we had to toss him out. Ruh roh.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I love Dungeons & Dragons and have been playing with the same group of friends for the past six years now. It’s quite the feat to get a group of adults on a consistent weekly schedule for as long as we have. I’m also at the age in my life where I’m trying improv comedy and have taken a couple of classes this year. My wife and I love watching bad movies and TV shows on Tubi. We’re almost never up-to-date on what the popular TV show is in the present time, aside from Severance.
Can you talk more about your high school journalism days?
Due to the deep embarrassment associated with that point in my life I will not.
This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky, and NPR.
