Thank you, Allan!

…and to the hiring team that saw how ready I am now.

I intend to give this my all, to do it right — to be fair, diligent, and dogged from Day 1.

Find me on the air at 90.9 FM and on social, and reach me at ezuckoff@bu.edu (or DM for my cell). Tune in and let’s do this.

…almost 8 years ago. I worked on a podcast, a daily news show, and occasionally in the newsroom. Then I left to cut my teeth as a full-time reporter… all so that someday I could come back to the newsroom I've admired for so long. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who helped me get here…

…when it comes to the city — anything you’re worried or excited about — I want to hear it. Reach out to me. Tell your friends to call. Tell your boss to email. Tell your mom to text. Pass around my name and contact at will.

This is where I get to say: I started my career as an intern at WBUR…

But everything is on the table: from laws and taxes, to the city's economy and business community, to police and city services, to housing, real estate, and the rising cost of living.

So my next step is to talk with people in every corner of Greater Boston. Anything that you’re talking about…

Thank you, Suzanne!

If you’ve been part of this journey with me — as a WCAI supporter and listener, as someone I’ve interviewed, or just as someone who once watched a video or clicked on a story — thank you, and talk to you soon.  

—30 —

… of people and things I’m endlessly grateful for. All of my WCAI colleagues, family, and friends also belong on it. So while the next gig thrills me, if you’ve made it this far, you understand why today is, at the very least, bittersweet. 

So, my last note is to you:

I am nothing without the generosity of these people across the region. I thank them for their willingness to (re)explain big concepts, to go deeper, to spend 30 more minutes making sure I’ll accurately capture the little stuff just right.

This is the non-exhaustive list…

I’ve embedded with the military and traveled in an Army caravan. I’ve also embedded in a high school cosmetology class — which was much scarier.

Because of them, I’ve been able to watch one of the last North Atlantic right whales get moved to its final resting place. I’ve done interviews on sailboats, fishing boats, eroding bluffs, and expansive beaches. I’ve done interviews in hardhats and waders.

And then, of course, there are the hundreds — thousands? — of locals who’ve talked with me for stories since June 2019. Activists, architects, veterinarians, veterans, regulators, fishermen, plumbers, migrants, toddlers, teachers, scientists, and “old ladies” have given me their time — a lot of it.

… and nurtured all of my best. He’s defended, pushed, and championed my work since the beginning. He is Simon AND Garfunkel, and I am just trying to keep up.

Steve, specifically, as my patient and brilliant editor at WCAI, has made me a better writer and person: he’s given structure to impossible-to-structure features, refined my ear to catch the little bits of tape that make a story sing, protected all of you from my worst ideas…

Report for America offered me the opportunity to learn and grow … so I gave it my all. And with RFA’s backing, Steve Junker, Mindy Todd, and Heather Goldstone took a chance on me. I’ll be grateful for it – and to them -- for as long as I live.