Marco Werman Bio
Host
I got my first job in journalism at 16 as a copy-boy at the News and Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've worked in documentary photography, print, radio and television. My radio work started in Burkina Faso in West Africa, following a three year stint with the Peace Corps in Togo. From Burkina Faso, I moved to London to produce the BBC World Service flagship breakfast program for Africa, "Network Africa."
In 1990, I moved back to the US, and helped start up a new public radio station in upstate New York in the Adirondacks where I reported, produced and hosted a daily two-hour news and current affairs show. Four years later, I moved to Rome, Italy where I was the correspondent for Monitor Radio. In 1995, WGBH and The World hired me to help begin the program. Its mission -- to bring international news to American ears in a compelling way that would make the world more relevant to them -- scratched me where I itch. And I've been committed to that mission ever since.
Along the way, I've won some awards (the National Federation of Community Broadcasters for an original radio drama I wrote; the Sony awards for an exposé on child labor in West African gold mines; the New York Festivals for a BBC documentary on the 1987 assassination of Burkina Faso’s president; the first annual Unity award from the Radio and Television News Director’s Association for coverage of diversity issues; and an Emmy for a Frontline documentary on Libya). But the most important honor for me remains the emails I get from listeners thanking us for the coverage we give to often little-known stories and voices from around the globe.
Recent Stories
The World
December 17, 2020
Despite all the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, our end-of-year fundraising campaign has inspired over 600 listeners from every corner of the globe to support us. If you can contribute to what we're doing, then this is our message: we still need you.
Music
The World
November 26, 2020
“Movement,” a one-hour special from The World, brings you stories of global migration through music. Together, host Marco Werman and Ethiopian American singer Meklit Hadero blend song and narrative in a meditation on what it means to be American. We follow a once-undocumented singer in San Francisco on a long-awaited trip back to Mexico, reflect on the experience of exile with a Syrian DJ and hear a Sudanese American artist play his first-ever show in Sudan — all guided by Hadero as she reflects on her own American story.
The World
November 17, 2020
Who we are matters because we bring our full selves to this job. The World newsroom gets to the bottom of every story, takes risks and highlights the communities most impacted by the headlines. I ask you to take a moment in your busy day to meet us, to see who we are. And while you’re there, please consider supporting the work we do.
Generation Putin
The World
June 28, 2019
Rap is now mainstream in Russia. The sound is everywhere: in clubs, on the radio and in stores. But despite a culture of speaking out on issues in the West, why do many rappers in Russia avoid talking about the country’s big problems?
Generation Putin
The World
June 28, 2019
Marco Werman visited Russia for the first time earlier this year. In Moscow, he saw the careful editing of Soviet history and the rise of Western commercialism.
The World
December 31, 2018
From artist Ai Weiwei, to the coach of Afghanistan's national women’s team Kelly Lindsey, host Marco Werman shares his favorite interviews of 2018.
Global Hit
The World
December 27, 2018
There was a lot of great music released this year, but we had to narrow it down. Here's a selection of our favorites as chosen by The World's Marco Werman, April Peavey and Brandi Fullwood.
The World
December 21, 2018
A story from The World inspired a Boston 4th grader to write a poem about climate change and the Amazon. Then her whole class got into the act.
Commentary
The World
August 10, 2018
1968 was a year of political upheaval and the music reflected the restless times. The World's host Marco Werman went back and checked out the 1968 chart-toppers from the US, Japan, France and Brazil.
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