Kojo Nnamdi

Kojo Nnamdi is a Washington institution, but he is also suspicious of people who become institutions so his motto is, “Never take yourself too seriously, you CAN BE WRONG!”

Kojo Nnamdi is a broadcast presence that is familiar to just about everyone in Washington. He is currently host of “THE KOJO NNAMDI SHOW” the weekday public affairs program on WAMU-FM 88.5 and the very popular “EVENING EXCHANGE,” seen on WHUT-TV. He was cited for an“Excellence in Broadcasting” award, by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) in 1993.

He is currently at the height of a broadcasting career that began in 1973 at WHUR-FM radio in Washington, D.C. where he served as News Editor and News Director from 1973 to 1985. During that time, he led a news division that created the now legendary award- winning evening broadcast called “The Daily Drum,” the most comprehensive locally produced news show in Washington. After creating an interview segment of the same newscast, which he hosted, it wasn’t long before Kojo’s interviewing skills began to attract attention and television came calling. In 1985, what was then WHMM-TV in Washington, D.C. —now WHUT-TV, approached Kojo about hosting its little known daily talk show with a small viewing audience, “EVENING EXCHANGE.” Since then the program, usually referred to as “Kojo’s show,” has risen dramatically in popularity and viewer ships. Nnamdi’s reputation as an interviewer and talk show host are now legendary in the Washington, D.C. area. He can be confrontational but civil, diplomatic but insistent, cerebral but humorous, and opinionated but restrained. Kojo has a reputation for versatility and preparation, because of his ability to knowledgeably handle topics as far removed as Nuclear Non-proliferation policy and basketball playoff match ups.

He is interested in all of the social and political issues that are discussed in the nation’s capital, but he is equally intrigued by the concerns of the nation and the world outside of Washington. For those longtime viewers of “EVENING EXCHANGE,” Kojo is known to be insistent on diversity both among his topics and his guests. Under his guidance, “EVENING EXCHANGE,” is the only television program on which you will see Africa and Asia discussed just as often as Europe, the only program on which minority expert opinions are offered on non-minority issues, like science, medicine, the aerospace industry and telecommunications.

In addition, Kojo demands that the weekly News analysis program give equal voice to the views of journalists who are white, black, male, female, Christian, Moslem and Jewish. It is the only such television program in Washington which provides such diversity in its News Roundup.

Mr. Nnamdi was honored by being named Washingtonian of the Year by the Washingtonian Magazine in January 2006. They also named him on of the One-Hundred Fifty influential people in the metropolitan area. Mr. Nnamdi has been chosen by the Librarian of Congress to serve as a Trustees at the Library of Congress’s Folklife Center. Kojo has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Access Corporation of Washington, D.C. since 1994. He was elected Chairman of the Board in 1997 and also serves as a member of the Cable Television Advisory Committee. Mr. Nnamdi was born in Guyana and is an active member of GUYAID an organization devoted to helping children in the Caribbean nation of Guyana. Kojo attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada and Federal City College in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Nnamdi is married and lives in Washington, D.C. where he and his wife Pamela attend St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church.