About the Producers and Hosts of “StoryLines New England”

Kevin Gardner, co-host, “StoryLines New England” A writer, broadcaster and teacher, Kevin Gardner has written and produced over 100 features on history, fine and performing arts, and regional crafts and culture for New Hampshire Public Radio since 1985, including the six-part Town Hall Opera Houses of New Hampshire, and cultural series sponsored by the New Hampshire Historical Society and the New Hampshire Humanities Council. He wrote, produced and hosted a radio series exploring books and authors, sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council, in 1999-2001. Gardner received the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters Award for Best Feature of the Year for The New England Marionette Opera in 1994, and for New Hampshire Furniture Masters in 1996. A native of New Hampshire, he is a skilled stone mason, carrying on a long family tradition. He teaches in the advanced studies program at St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., and is director of the major course, “Shakespeare for Performance.”

Laura Knoy, co-host, “StoryLines New England” A New Hampshire native, Laura Knoy returned to her home state in 1995 as host of “The Exchange,” a popular statewide call-in talk show broadcast from New Hampshire Public Radio. She is also an occasional host for the NPR programs “The Diane Rehm Show” and “Living on Earth.” From 1992 to 1995, Knoy was a reporter and weekend newscaster for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., where she sometimes hosted “Weekend Edition Sunday” and “Performance Today.” Knoy began her career in radio at WAMU-FM, the NPR affiliate in Washington, D.C., as a reporter and local “Weekend Edition” host. Prior to that, she was a researcher for USA Today and for the Institute for International Economics in Washington. Knoy has received three prestigious PRINDI awards for “The Exchange” and numerous other broadcasting awards for her radio work. New Hampshire Magazine voted “The Exchange” as best talk show in the state, and Knoy as “one of New Hampshire’s most powerful women.”

Georgia Lomax, Library Coordinator, “StoryLines America” “StoryLines America” and its regional series are the brainchild of Georgia Lomax. While serving as director of the Flathead County Library in Kalispell, Montana, she had the idea for a radio/library partnership that would feature regional literature, and which debuted as “Big Sky Radio” on Montana radio stations in 1993-95. She has been library coordinator for all five “StoryLines” regional radio series since than. Lomax is currently a managing librarian for the King County Library System in Kent, Washington.

Keith Shields, Producer, “StoryLines New England” Keith Shields joined New Hampshire Public Radio in 2003 as executive producer of “The Exchange,” an award-winning statewide call-in news and culture talk show. Shields has an extensive background in radio production and cultural programming, including reporting and interviewing. He produced “On Point,” a national two-hour weeknight news/call in show for WBUR in Boston from 2001 to 2003, and has produced several award-winning news and cultural call-in shows based in New England, including “One Union Station” in Rhode Island, for which he was responsible for the arts segments of the program, and “The Connection” in Boston, where he was associate producer and technical coordinator. Shields received a B.S. in Mass Communication/Radio from Emerson College, Boston.

Paul Zalis, Executive Producer, “StoryLines, America” Paul Zalis, an author and journalist, served as co-host and producer-director for the “Big Sky Radio” series in Montana, the precursor to the “StoryLines” project, and wrote and co-produced a “Big Sky” documentary. In addition to being the executive producer of the “StoryLines America” radio project since its inception, he served as co- host for the “StoryLines Northwest” series that aired in 1997. Zalis was project director for the “Living in the Last Best Place” library archives radio project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also been the director of the journalism department and English instructor at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, Montana. In 2003, a documentary television program written by Zalis, "For This and Future Generations: Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention," received a Regional Emmy Award in the cultural/historical documentary category from the Seattle-Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.