Aspen Public Radio is pleased to announce the arrival of Sage Smiley as the station’s new host of All Things Considered, following the June 2025 promotion of Halle Zander to news director. When not on the air, Smiley will be supporting Aspen Public Radio’s three full-time reporters and three regularly contributing journalists as an associate editor and enterprising reporter in the newsroom.
For the past two years, Smiley has managed the newsroom at KYUK Public Media in Bethel, Alaska, serving as the primary editor, newsroom manager, and advocate in the largest city in Western and Northern Alaska, for “a scrappy four-person team” covering a region of 56 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Western Alaska, “the size of Oregon that can only be reached by plane, boat or snowmachine,” as she wrote in her cover letter when applying for the position.
In this role, Smiley was also responsible for establishing newsroom ethics policies and procedures, and oversaw collaborations with other public radio stations, newspapers and digital publications throughout Alaska and as far away as Louisiana, along with managing investigative projects with ProPublica, NPR and APM Reports.
“Sage is well-versed in all aspects of public radio,” said Halle Zander, Aspen Public Radio news director. “She brings a commitment to local news and an expertise to the medium that will bolster our news service, helping the greater Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys stay informed and entertained.”
Zander continued, “While I’ll be sad in some ways to step away from my daily hosting responsibilities, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Sage behind the microphone. She brings high ethical standards, incredible news judgment and a joyful passion for radio.”
Before arriving at KYUK Public Media, Smiley spent three years at KSTK FM (Wrangell, Alaska), where she served as news director, reporter and news host. She has also worked as reporter and news host at KDLG (Dillingham & Naknek, Alaska), and producer, audio editor, and co-host at KBYU (Provo, Utah). In 2020, Smiley spent time as a Fellow for an investigative journalism organization in Amman, Jordan, focused on the Syrian conflict (Syria Direct) and worked with audio and translated Arabic scripts for publication at Sowt Podcasting.
Smiley graduated in 2019 from Brigham Young University, College of Fine Arts & Communications, where she double-majored in Journalism & Arabic, with a minor in Chemistry. She is also a graduate of Qasid Arabic Institute and the Sijal Institute for Arabic Language & Culture following intensive study in Media Arabic and Syrian Colloquial Arabic.
In 2025, Smiley participated in the Kiplinger Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence, and in 2024 she was selected as a Poynter Editorial Leadership and Integrity Initiative Fellow. She has won numerous awards from the Alaska Press Club, including first place for Best Solo Reporting, Best Sound-Rich Feature, Best Reporting on Science, and Best Arts Reporting.
When not reporting or managing other journalists, Smiley spent time over the past year as Head Swim Coach for Bethel Regional High School and performing in the Bethel Actor’s Guild production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now relocated to the Roaring Fork Valley, Smiley expects to enjoy time away from the radio station learning to ski for the first time this winter.
“My time in Alaska taught me the importance of community,” shared Smiley. “Journalism in rural towns can be deeply intimate and personal, as well as functional. I believe this intimacy is essential to telling stories well and fairly, and my unique perspective and experience will complement the current reporting initiatives already underway at Aspen Public Radio.”
Sage Smiley joins an award-winning newsroom at Aspen Public Radio, including Director Halle Zander, Morning Edition host Megan Tackett, Arts & Culture Reporter Regan Mertz, Women’s Desk Reporter Sarah Tory, Climate Desk Reporter Michael Fanelli, Social Justice Desk Reporter Eleanor Bennett, and Aspen Daily News Reporter Lucy Peterson, who also reports for the radio station.
Aspen Public Radio broadcasts local newscasts and radio features from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, within national programming; produces a daily local news podcast available each morning; and publishes daily to aspenpublicradio.org.
You can learn more about the Aspen Public Radio team here.
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Aspen Public Radio is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to support, nourish, and enrich our community by providing informative, entertaining, and educational radio and digital programming in a reliable and professional manner. Founded in 1980 as Roaring Fork Public Radio Translator, broadcasting from Sy Coleman’s living room in 1981, Aspen Public Radio has now grown into one of the most relied upon news institutions in the Roaring Fork Valley. The station is located in the Red Brick Center for the Arts at 110 E. Hallam Street, Suite 134, Aspen, Colorado.
You can listen to Aspen Public Radio at 91.5FM and 88.9FM, along with other repeater signals depending on location throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, or by streaming the station at aspenpublicradio.org from anywhere in the world.