about rene
Rene Gutel is an award-winning public radio journalist based in Phoenix, Arizona. She began her broadcasting career quite accidentally, when she signed on as a volunteer at WMHC, the student-run radio station at Mount Holyoke College. In between double-majoring in French and Middle Eastern Studies, Rene hosted a folk show on Fridays, from midnight to two am.
Since then, Rene has worked at radio stations in California, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Arizona. She’s covered a bit of everything: from serial killers stalking the Phoenix streets, to the build-up of National Guard troops along the US Mexico border, to the emerging popularity of pet-only funeral homes. Her in-depth feature reporting is regularly heard on public radio programs including Weekend America, NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Day to Day, PRI’s The World and the Splendid Table. Rene has won journalism awards in Alaska, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and four regional “Edward R. Murrow” awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
In the spring of 2008, Rene spent two months in Paris and Marseille producing radio stories about French pop stars, American tennis prodigies, and price-fixing scandals. She’s also a producer for the alt.NPR podcast, B-Side Radio.
(Photo credit: Susan Edwards)