Listeners to The World, public radio’s longest-running daily global news program, will soon hear a new voice joining host Marco Werman. Starting January 16, longtime reporter Carolyn Beeler will become co-host of the GBH- and PRX-produced show, which airs on 376 public radio stations across the United States and Canada.

Beeler grew up in Ohio and has reported for public radio networks and member stations her whole career. She joined The World in 2015 as a reporter and oversees the show’s environment coverage, reporting and editing stories about climate change and the people and places most impacted by it. “Carolyn Beeler has been a long-time voice on The World, providing smart insights and clarity in her reporting about difficult situations, from Ukraine to climate change,“ said Dan Lothian, executive producer. “She’ll work closely with Marco to ensure our audience continues to understand the world we live in today.” We spoke with Carolyn about her new role.

What will change for listeners?

We hope it's an even more engaging and ear-grabbing listen — having two hosts brings a different vibe to the show, varying the sound and pacing with two voices delivering the news instead of one. I think it will boost the energy of the show and enhance the journalism that we provide. And we’ll be able to take the show on the road more frequently, with one host reporting in the field and co-anchoring the program from places around the world where news is breaking.

How will this new role change what you do day to day?

I’ll shift from reporting and editing stories on the environment to co-hosting the program five days a week, with Marco most days and Carol Hills on Fridays. I've been filling in occasionally as host for about a year and a half, so I have gotten relatively comfortable with the role. I'm really excited and truly honored to be entrusted with this position.

How did you come to be a journalist?

I’ve known I wanted to be a journalist since high school, if not before. I always loved reading, writing and — most importantly — talking to people. Journalism lets you do it all, while also delivering an important public service. I studied print journalism at Northwestern University and lucked into a Kroc Fellowship at NPR the year I graduated. I learned radio there and absolutely fell in love with it. There’s a real power to hearing people’s voices on tape rather than reading their words in print. I’ve never looked back!

What are the priority topics for The World now?

We've been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a very dedicated and thorough manner, making sure we're providing many different perspectives and balance over the breadth of our coverage. We had a reporter in Israel within days of the war breaking out, and we now have a staff reporter — Shirin Jaafari — based in the Middle East for an extended period. We have an editor now dedicated to our Middle East coverage and freelancers who are rotating into the region on a continuous basis. At the same time, we’re continuing to stay on top of the other vital stories we’ve been covering all along, so we’re still doing lots of reporting on Ukraine and keeping a focus on climate change, human rights, global politics and governance and lots of other stories all over the world. Since I've been on the environment beat for many years, I plan to keep up my expertise on that topic and still do some environment reporting even as a co-host.

Listen to The World, which airs every weekday from 3-4pm on GBH 89.7 and repeats from 8-9pm. Listen to the podcast and read The World’s articles at theworld.org.