Scott Simon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scott Simon is the host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday. Since 1977 Simon has reported from many parts of the world, including Central America, Africa, India, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. He has covered wars, many presidential elections, political strife, and more. Some of his most notable reporting came from a stint in Kosovo, an experience which inspired him to write his first novel, Pretty Birds, in 2005.

Simon was born in Chicago, the city that he still considers his spiritual home. His father, Ernie Simon, was a comedian whose career in show business connected him to many celebrated Chicagoans, especially the late sports broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, a man with whom Scott would develop a deep and lifelong friendship. Scott's parents divorced when he was a child as a result of his father's alcoholism, a condition that was to contribute to his untimely death when Scott was a teenager. His mother would eventually remarry to Ralph G. Newman, a former minor league second baseman turned Abraham Lincoln scholar who rose to the position of president of the Chicago Library Board. Newman was convicted in 1975 of fraud for helping Richard Nixon file a false claim regarding some documents in the library's possession.

In 1992 and 1993, Simon co-hosted the Saturday edition of NBC's Weekend Today. It was pitched to Simon as the television equivalent of Weekend Edition Saturday, though Simon soon found otherwise. He discovered he felt uncomfortable in front of a camera and generally clashed with the way morning television worked, so he left Weekend Today with two months remaining in his twelve-month contract. He returned to NPR and resumed hosting Weekend Edition Saturday, a position he holds to this day.

Though his father was Jewish and his mother Irish Catholic, Simon joined the Society of Friends as a young man. Although he still believes in the traditional Quaker value of nonviolence, his experience as a war correspondant in the Balkan conflict has convinced him that situations do arise in which pacifism would only prolong the suffering and killing of innocents.

In 2000, Simon published a memoir, "Home and Away", which chronicles his life through the lens of his intense devotion to Chicago's sports teams.

[edit] Trivia

Scott is a big fan of NBA legend Michael Jordan. However, the closest he has ever come to meeting his idol is being photographed next to a cardboard cutout of #23. Simon did become acquainted with several of Jordan's teammates during their second three-year championship run, particularly Australian center Luc Longley.