Phil Harrell is a producer with Morning Edition, NPR’s award-winning newsmagazine. He has been at NPR since 1999.
At NPR, Harrell has worked on a variety of shows and produced a little bit of everything—from politics to pop music. Most memorably, he worked through the nights after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and after the death of President Ronald Reagan, producing mini-documentaries about each story for Weekend Edition.
Harrell got his start in radio as a rock ‘n’ roll DJ/program director at progressive WRNR in Annapolis, MD. He later co-created the Bob Edwards Show for XM and Bob Edwards Weekend for PRI.
Harrell has won numerous awards for his excellence in production. In 2006 and 2011, he led the teams that claimed the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award. In addition, he won the Gabriel Award in both 2012 and 2014 with hosts Guy Raz and Arun Rath.
A native of Maryland, Harrell is a graduate of the University of Maryland-College Park.
Highlights from Phil Harrell:
- “It Crackles With Life”: Beauty Pill Return
- Sam Cooke And The Song That ‘Almost Scared Him’
- How Crossword Puzzles Unlocked An Artist’s Memory
- How Safe Is Our Meat?
Lowlights from Phil Harrell:
- He almost killed Clint Eastwood by losing his balance and collapsing into him
- He almost capsized a kayak paddled by NPR’s Brian Naylor
- He almost lost a recording that represented an entire day’s worth of reporting in South Dakota