This is Sarah Lucy Oliver's last weekend as the Executive Producer of Weekend Edition. She is retiring, and while we will miss her every day, it is a tribute to her that you may not notice a difference here on our shows. SLO, as she's come to be known, has trained and inspired legions of great producers and editors, who have learned from her intelligence, humor, and discerning journalism.
Most of all, we have been enriched by her human touch. SLO treats all of us with a respect and kindness that is reflected in what you hear on weekend mornings. She has taught us all that you can pack a broadcast full of important facts and findings. But if you don't make time for the strokes of laughter, sorrows, surprise, and poignance, people won't stay with you for very long, especially on weekend mornings, when our minds may want to wander. Sarah Lucy Oliver has made our shows a weekly gathering for all of us — we here in the studio, control room and the desks just outside, and you, listening in your kitchens and cars.
SLO first joined NPR as an intern in 1989. She later returned to Weekend Edition to work with the legendary Daniel Schorr to learn about broadcast journalism from one of the people who helped invent it.
Before she led the show, SLO was an extraordinary producer in the field. In the wrenching days after the 9-11 attacks, she found families who had lost loves ones in New York, and her respect and kindness helped people whose lives had been shattered find strength to open their hearts to us, so we could bring their stories to you. As our show director, she kept us on the air through long hours of special coverage following the Columbia shuttle disaster and in the first days of the Iraq War.
What SLO has done each week as our Executive Producer is art and architecture. She's confronted a blank space and had to decide: what do we need where? What's the best way to tell that story? What will invite people in to spend time? Where do we press forward, pull back, and how do we find balance? Where do we need a touch of light, or warmth? What can bring all of this together?
SLO is retiring. But in a business that can seem to send words out to disappear into thin air, Sarah Lucy Oliver's artistry and grace will continue to brighten our lives, and your weekends.
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