The phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” is one that is often deployed to make the suggestion that a person who does many things cannot do any one of them particularly well. Robin Washington, on the other hand, is a jack of many trades – and is also a master of many.
In the Northland, he’s known for being a former editor of the Duluth News Tribune and is currently most visible as a radio host on Wisconsin Public Radio. But he’s also an editor-at-large for the Jewish-affairs media outlet Forward, he’s appeared on a number of nationally televised programs, produced a PBS documentary, has lectured at prestigious colleges and a partridge in a pear tree. (This is to say: the list goes on.)
But rather than being a person whose many hats are wildly disparate, Washington might tell you that he’s worked in a lot of different areas because he’s a storyteller, and the best storytellers use whatever mediums are best for the story. Print, audio, video – he goes where he needs to go. And he’s been a lot of places.
“It hasn’t been a transition from one to the other to the other,” Washington said of his media hopscotching. “It’s always been concurrent. I was on my college radio station and the newspaper. For the most part, I started in print, but then I had a fellowship at WGBH in Boston, which was for print-science journalists to learn to broadcast.”
Learning all about television and radio at one of the largest public-broadcasting stations in the nation helped to give Washington a deep well of knowledge, and it helped to set the tone for his career. Rather than just being a broadcaster or a writer or a host, he would combine all his skills like tools in a toolbox, selecting the appropriate ones for the task at hand.
Early in his career, he ended up in Minnesota, where he started the magazine Minnesota Engineer in his mid-20s. Later, he became the editor and publisher of the Lake County News Chronicle in Two Harbors. “That would actually be why I’m here,” The native Chicagoan said. “It was great.”
After 17 years in Boston doing print and television, Washington found himself back in Minnesota in 2004 for a decade at the News Tribune, then split time between Minnesota and Boston, doing print and radio.
“I needed to borrow a studio, and that’s what got me in at Wisconsin Public Radio,” he said. Before long, he was the host of Simply Superior, which is no longer in production, though he still is part-time on the air doing features. He’s pretty busy for a guy who says he’s “semi-retired.”
“There’s no reason to stop,” Washington said. “This is a perfect retirement gig. I should probably stop taking on all these others. I”ve got books I’m supposed to write and all kinds of stuff.”
“To me,” Washington said of his continued passion for tale-telling, “it’s the story. We’ve got just some really interesting stories here, and they deserve attention.”
