A Martínez, co-host of “Take Two” at KPCC in Los Angeles, joins NPR’s “Morning Edition” as its first Latino host. He joins Rachel Martin, Noel King and Steve Inskeep in the hosting lineup, and will be based with the NPR West team in Culver City, Calif.
Martínez starts today, July 6, and will make his debut on the air in the coming weeks. He replaces David Greene, who signed off in 2020 after eight years with “Morning Edition.”
Before joining public radio, Martínez was a sports-talk radio host in Los Angeles.
According to NPR reporting, Martínez, an Ecuadorian-American, is called Jorge by his mother and George by his wife; his given name is George Louis Martínez — the Anglicized spelling of his name on his birth certificate was important to his immigrant grandfather. He says his nickname comes from his time as a board operator for a local news radio station in Los Angeles. Colleagues who didn't bother learning his first name called out "Hey, Martínez" and the moniker stuck. There is no period after the letter A in his name, as it is not an abbreviation.
Read the story from NPR's David Folkenflik and NPR press release.