Wolf Blitzer’s soporific voice enters the stream of sound permeating the spacious newsroom as the chyron announces breaking news in the Russia investigation. In the distance, a Rod Blagojevich gubernatorial campaign poster hangs on a crimson board. Several journalists engage in conversation and tucked away in a cubicle alongside copies of the “UHigh Midway” and a bulky, black Dell computer, Parker parent, senior editor for Enterprise at National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WBEZ, and periodic Parker journalism guest speaker Kate Grossman listens intently, editing a piece in painstaking detail.

Before joining WBEZ in 2016, Grossman served as a director at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Prior to her work at the university, Grossman enjoyed a lengthy career in print journalism, working for “The Chicago Sun-Times” and The Associated Press, among other publications. “I got into journalism for a few reasons,” Grossman said. “I was interested in finding a way to impact public policy. I felt like I was a pretty good writer, and I was a curious person.”

A firm believer that people should choose a career in which they are truly interested, Grossman contemplated her own interests while deciding on her profession. “I considered different things like working in government, working in a non-profit, and journalism,” Grossman said. “I settled on journalism because I really loved it.”

Years later, journalism plays a central role in her everyday routine. Her typical Tuesday at Chicago Public Radio at Navy Pier, where WBEZ is based, includes a 10:10 news meeting in which vital staff members discuss various stories and story ideas, which they rank in order of importance.

On February 20, a Tuesday, The A column—the most important stories—included a feature concerning John Hope College Prep in Englewood, Chicago and a feature regarding a Buffalo Grove Olympics watch party for figure skater Bradie Tennell. The B column included a story about early voting and an update on the selling of the debt of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System.

Editor Cate Cahan attended the 10:10 meeting with Grossman and interacts with her frequently. “We are both editors,” Cahan said, “so we have different work to do, but we do it side-by-side.”

Cahan believes that Grossman possesses qualities central to WBEZ’s mission. “Our mission is to serve our listeners,” Cahan said. “We are very turned outward to community in terms of wanting to cover things that matter, wanting to uncover things that should be uncovered. I think she does a particularly good job at both of those things.”

Following her meeting with Cahan and other critical staff, Grossman attended another meeting at 10:30 in a conference room in which she and her colleagues discussed the schedule, shown on a Google Chrome smartsheet projected on a large, black Samsung screen.

In addition to planning, Grossman is directly involved with the journalism the station produces. She has noticed a few differences in writing for print versus radio journalism. “In print, you’re writing for the eye,” Grossman said. “In radio, you’re writing for the ear. That means the writing styles are very different. Radio journalism has to be more simple, more character-driven, and more about storytelling than print does.”

Unlike a considerable number of journalists nationwide, Grossman’s work was not impacted heavily by President Trump’s presidency. “The federal government has a role in education, but it’s relatively small,” Grossman said. “Education lends to be a local matter.”

While Grossman served as deputy editorial page editor at the “Sun-Times,” she frequently debated how the local government should allocate its funds with Editorial Page Editor Tom McNamee. “One of the big issues in Chicago was between supporting good public schools, but—at the same time—recognizing that parents want a choice for their kids,” McNamee said. “If you’re far to the left, you can simply say, ‘Charter schools are terrible.’ The easy thing on the conservative right would be to say, ‘More competition. The more charter schools you have, the better it is.’ We tried to find a point of view that was a little more sophisticated between those two extremes.”

Because McNamee and Grossman often did not agree on issues, their relationship was beneficial. “I was probably more pro-charter at that time, and Kate was more skeptical about charter schools,” McNamee said. “I think we both moved a little bit toward the other person’s position. The best thing in life is if you can have a professional relationship where you feel like you work with a total equal, where both of you challenge each other. And you make each other better. It’s a great professional thing if you can find that person. It doesn’t happen very often, so when it does, it’s a good thing.”