Our Pandemic Summer: A Statewide Special

WUNC | By Amanda Magnus,

Grant Holub-Moorman, Anita Rao, Frank Stasio

Published May 27, 2020 at 11:57 AM EDT

Credit Brooke Bust-Webber/WUNC

Summer for many families in North Carolina is filled with beach weekends, getaways to the mountains, bountiful produce and other fun in the sun. But how much of that will be possible this season with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?

Public radio stations from across North Carolina joined forces to look into summer 2020 for “Our Pandemic Summer: A Statewide Special.” WUNC’s “The State of Things” host Frank Stasio interviews scientistLisa Gralinskiabout how COVID-19 responds to heat, water and other facets of summer life. Gralinski is an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.

WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks” host Mike Collins talks to WFAE political reporter Steve Harrison about how the pandemic may impact the Republican National Convention, scheduled to take place in Charlotte in August. And WUNC “The State of Things” host Anita Rao investigates how the coronavirus has changed things for our state’s migrant and seasonal farm workers with Aaron Sánchez-Guerra, a reporter for The News & Observer.

Plus, reporters from public radio stations WFDD in Winston-Salem, BPR in Asheville and WHQR in Wilmington share their reporting on the status of minor league baseball and summer camps in western North Carolina; summer festivals in the Triad and the restaurant industry in Wilmington.

Amanda Magnus

Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.

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Grant Holub-Moorman

Grant Holub-Moorman is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show that features the issues, personalities and places of North Carolina.

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Anita Rao

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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