Tom Cole
Tom Cole is a senior editor on NPR's Arts Desk. He develops, edits, produces, and reports on stories about art, culture, music, film, and theater for NPR's news magazines Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Cole has held these responsibilities since February 1990.
Prior to his work with the Arts Desk, Cole worked for three and a half years as an associate producer for NPR's daily classical music program Performance Today, and also for Morning Edition, where he coordinated, edited, and produced arts and culture stories.
From April 1979 to July 1986, Cole worked for NPR Member station WAMU-FM in Washington, DC. He was the production manager for the daily operation of studios, and also served as a reporter, writing and producing music features that were broadcast locally and nationally. In addition, from October 1985 to November 1986, Cole worked for Voice of America as a producer for VOA Europe.
Since 1977, Cole has been the host and producer of a weekly three-hour program of music and interviews broadcast on public radio station WPFW-FM in Washington.
Over the course of his career, Cole has produced or collaborated on a number of public radio projects. He co-edited the Peabody Award-winning NPR documentary, "I Must Keep Fightin': The Art of Paul Robeson." He was also an advisor, contributor, and co-editor of the Peabody Award-winning series, "The NPR 100," the top 100 songs of the 20th century.
A native of Washington, DC, Cole has studied classical guitar at The American University and privately. He also studied comparative literature at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.
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As we do every year at about this time, we look back at some of the musicians who died. The 2018 song montage honors musicians from Aretha Franklin to Dolores O'Riordan to Roy Hargrove.
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Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses in New York have been holding their spring auctions and such well-known names as Monet have set records. There have also been surprises. -
William Eggleston is renowned for making the art world take color photography seriously. He started taking pictures when he was a kid, around the same time he started playing piano. -
His precise technique and big ears made him the "Michael Jordan" of his instrument. These days, he doesn't tour any more, but he's still making albums for his own label. -
Shot outside an arena in suburban Maryland hosting a Judas Priest and Dokken double bill, the short documentary captured something vital about its moment in music history. -
The man Susan Stamberg called "NPR's secret weapon," whose depth of knowledge matched the perfect music to NPR's stories for 20 years, was an accomplished musician in his own right. -
Derek Gripper's exploration of West African kora music has produced two acclaimed albums — and, he says, a better understanding of the classical music he played as a kid. -
The Belgian-American musician, also known for his guitar playing and whistling, performed with the stars of postwar jazz and was widely heard on film scores and commercial jingles. -
The new documentary, compiled from a deep archive of interviews, focuses on Frank Zappa's serious side — as a composer keen on exploring ugliness and difficulty. -
Over the course of his 40-year career, Davies has only released six full-length feature films. His latest, Sunset Song, follows a young Scottish woman in the years before World War I.
