Susan Valot

Susan Valot is an award-winning radio journalist with more than 16  years of experience in the Los Angeles region, one of the largest radio markets in the United States.

Valot covers anything and everything as a freelance reporter-producer for various public radio outlets, including “The California Report,” NPR’s “Only A Game” and “Marketplace.”  She spent from 2006 to 2011 as the solo Orange County bureau for KPCC Radio, the NPR affiliate in Pasadena, California, reaching more than 600,000 listeners each week.  Valot left the station to do a reporting fellowship in Europe.

During Valot’s time in L.A. radio, she has won numerous awards, including being named in June 2011 as the Los Angeles Press Club’s Radio Journalist of the Year.  The judges called Valot’s work “some of the best we’ve heard.”  They described her reporting as “well-rounded reports with authoritative, informed tone. Great use of sound.”

Valot also has experience covering international issues.  She’s participated in several international exchange programs, including the RIAS Berlin Kommission Fellowship (Germany) in 2005, the U.S.-Austria Journalism Exchange in 2010 and the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship (Germany) in 2011.  Those programs resulted in several international stories for Southern California’s airwaves.

In 2012, Valot was honored with the 2nd place international radio prize in the RIAS Berlin Kommission’s annual awards ceremony, honoring broadcast work that fosters understanding between the U.S. and Germany.  Her story aired on KPCC and was about Los Angeles artists who traded the Southern California art scene for Berlin.

Valot and a fellow public radio colleague are currently working on launching “Detour: The Radio Show with a Travel Problem,” a public radio show/podcast about the people, cultures and stories that make places special.