WHRB Plans Election Show

Harvard’s student radio station, WHRB, has teamed up with a youth-oriented online news outlet to provide at least five hours of live coverage of today’s presidential election.

In addition to WHRB’s live Webcast at whrb.org, the coverage will also be streamed at Scoop08.com, a student-operated source for election news, according to Alexander B. Heffner ’12, WHRB’s political director and the editor-in-chief of Scoop08.

“The idea was to multiply our listenership by, in a sense, joining forces,” said Heffner, who will host the special along with Markus R.T. Kolic ’09.

Heffner will be serving as lead anchor and a neutral interviewer, and Kolic will be at his side, providing commentary and conducting the occasional question-and-answer session, Heffner said.

WHRB has produced live election specials in past years, but this year’s edition will feature live reporting by student correspondents on campus and call-in cameos by big names in journalism, academia, and politics, including Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent; presidential biographer Douglas Brinkley; award-winning author and political commentator Doris Kearns Goodwin; and John Harris, the editor-in-chief of The Politico, among others.

“WHRB’s election coverage this year will be, by far, the biggest in recent years,” said Alyce M. de Carteret ’10, WHRB’s news executive and the program’s executive producer.

“Overall, it will be a very multifaceted broadcast with the newest feature being the special guests, who will be commenting throughout the broadcast,” Heffner said, adding that he met many of the guests through his show on the student radio station at Phillips Academy, where he went to high school.

The program is expected to air from 7 p.m. to midnight, though it may extend into the early morning hours, depending on when the final results are released.