Weekday 5 - 9 a.m. on KPR and 9 - 11 a.m. on KPR2

With NPR's Leila Fadel, Steve Inskeep, Rachel Martin and A. Martinez & KPR's Tom Parkinson in Lawrence

About the Show: Morning Edition

For more than three decades, NPR's Morning Edition has prepared listeners for the day ahead with two hours of up-to-the-minute news, background analysis, commentary, and coverage of arts and sports. With nearly 14 million listeners, Morning Edition draws public radio's largest audience.

About the Host: Tom Parkinson

Tom Parkinson takes over the air chair as local host in for NPR's morning newsmagazine, Morning Edition. He brings 20 years of public radio newsroom experience to KPR.

"I love the energy of early mornings and the privilege of greeting listeners at sunrise and informing them about what happened while they were sleeping," he said. "Whether my listeners tune in for 20 minutes during the morning commute or listen to the entire broadcast, I want them to walk away with a better understanding of our world and a good story to share around the coffee maker or the lunch table."

Parkinson has worked as the host and producer of Morning Edition at WUSF in Tampa, Florida; WMFE in Orlando, Florida; and WKSU in Kent, Ohio. Most recently, he was a newscast producer at KPCC in Los Angeles. He also had a short stint in news broadcasting at a commercial radio station, but came back to public broadcasting.

"Public broadcasting is unique in media. I don't know of any other forum that combines in-depth, unbiased news coverage and thoughtful commentary from many perspectives with features on science, technology, literature, music and art. All of it presented in an accessible and entertaining fashion," he said. "On my broadcast of Morning Edition, I try to complete that picture with local and state news, weather and sports."

When not in the newsroom or on air, Parkinson's interests include Old West, Civil War and railroad history; playing folk, jazz, blues, rock and country music on guitar and bass; or reading history and crime novels.

As for his early workday, Parkinson says waking up is the easy part.

"Getting up at 3 a.m. is not that hard," he said," but going to bed at 7:30 p.m. is more difficult, especially if there's something interesting and fun going on."