AK - Staff

Duncan Moon, Managing Editor
Duncan Moon began his career in broadcast journalism at Monitor Radio in 1985 as an editorial assistant. He rose through the ranks as reporter, producer, editor and foreign correspondent. He covered the 1st Palestinian Intifadeh from Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip; covered the first Bush-Gorbachev summit in Moscow; reported from Berlin on the fall of the wall and German Unification, and covered the 1st Gulf War from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Duncan also went on to serve as Washington Bureau Chief, Senior International Editor, and finally Managing Editor for Monitor Radio. When Monitor Radio closed in 1997, he joined National Public Radio as a Supervising Editor and then as Religion Correspondent. His work on Islam in America was included in NPR’s successful bids for the 2001 Peabody and Overseas Press Club awards, which NPR won for its coverage of the attacks of September 11th. Unable to resist the lure of Alaska, Duncan accepted the position of Managing Editor of APRN and Executive Producer of AK in January of 2003.

Jessica Cochran, Producer
Jessica Cochran grew up listening to NPR in Washington DC, hopped north and west to attend college at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota – and continued the northwest journey to Alaska in 1996. She has worked for Alaska Public Radio Network for seven years. As a reporter, she’s covered topics ranging from the annual silliness of Seward’s Polar Bear Jump Off Festival to the struggles of Alaska schools working to meet new federal education standards. She served for several years as producer of APRN’s Iditarod coverage, periodically produces Alaska News Nightly, and mostly recently has served as producer of APRN’s statewide call in show, Talk of Alaska. Jessica’s off-duty interests include hiking, cross country skiing and traveling.

Ellen Lockyer, Reporter/Producer
Ellen Lockyer got her start in journalism on rural Alaska print weeklies like the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times during the eighties. She jumped ship in Valdez in 1989, joining KCHU’s public radio news team during the hectic days after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. After four years as the station’s Cordova bureau, Lockyer left Prince William Sound for Anchorage in 1992. Once there, she free–lanced for fishing industry publications and worked for a number of radio clients, like KSKA-FM, KTNA-FM and APRN. Lockyer joined APRN’s news staff as Anchorage reporter in 1995. Since then, she has covered everything from state politics to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Her work has taken her from Attu Island to Arctic Village. Outside the newsroom, Lockyer has worked as a trainer for Koahnic Broadcasting’s Alaska Native Youth Media Institute and has served as president of the Alaska Press Club.

Rebecca Sheir, Host/ Producer
Rebecca Sheir came to Alaska by way of Iowa City, where she received her MFA from the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program in May 2006. While in the heartland, Rebecca worked at WSUI, Eastern Iowa’s NPR news station, as the producer and co-host of Weekend America: Iowa Edition, guest host of Talk of Iowa: Live From the Java House, and local drive-time voice of All Things Considered. She also designed and taught the undergraduate radio essay/commentary course, Radio Voices. Before moving to Iowa, Rebecca lived in New York City, where she received her BA from Columbia University and worked in off -Broadway theater production and casting. Her work has aired on public radio stations across the country.

Scott’s interest in reporting fermented during a three-year period living and traveling in Asia. An early blogger, he “group e-mailed” (as it was called back in the 20th century) stories of his adventures which included hitchhiking the length of Japan, slaughtering a sheep in Mongolia and pickin’ banjo at the world’s highest monastery in Tibet. After positive feedback on his stories ...which he can’t remember if he received or made up for himself...Burton decided he wanted to become a writer. On the way, he worked as a snowboard patroller, a teacher of English as a second language, a care provider for people with abilities and disabilities, a bartender, a laborer in construction and landscape, a naturalist, a freelance writer, a bluegrass musician, a volunteer DJ and most prestigiously, a partially-employed stay-at-home boyfriend.