As host, Hill will bring listeners inside our national conversation, digging into the policies shaping our lives.
Vox editor-in-chief Swati Sharma and executive director for audio Katherine Wells today announced that Jonquilyn Hill will be the next host of the editorial brand’s acclaimed weekly podcast, The Weeds. Hill, who has been working as interim host since September, will bring listeners inside our national conversation, with deep dives into the policies shaping our world. Speaking with academics, historians, experts, and policymakers, as well as Vox colleagues and Weeds listeners, she’ll dig into everything from the state of democracy and our economic future to immigration and climate change. Her first episode as official host of the show is out today, looking back at the Voting Rights Act and our current political landscape.
“The Weeds is a cornerstone of Vox’s mission to empower our audience to better understand the world around them,” says Sharma. “We’re thrilled to usher in a new era at The Weeds with a host who keenly understands the importance of fostering inclusive conversations about the decisions shaping our country and world.”
“Jonquilyn brings years of experience as an audio journalist covering government, politics, and policy,” says Wells. “From the moment she first started hosting the show, we were blown away by her ability to breathe life into the policy decisions that shape our daily lives. I’m incredibly excited for the show’s next chapter, and couldn’t think of a better person to helm it.”
Hill joined Vox last year as a senior producer on its slate of explanatory shows, which include daily news podcast Today, Explained and science show Unexplainable. She joined the site from WAMU, where she produced the news program 1A, and hosted Through the Cracks, an investigative podcast series examining the gaps in our society and the people who fall through them. Hill has held roles at NPR, where she worked on their 2016 Elections Desk, as well as NBC’s Washington bureau and Time Warner Cable News, where she covered the White House and DC-based government, politics, and policy. She was part of PRX’s Project Catapult, a public media podcast accelerator encouraging public radio stations across the country to create programs meaningful to their communities.
“I am absolutely thrilled to sit in The Weeds host chair. I’ve listened to the podcast in all its iterations, and it’s been such a helpful and interesting deep dive into the policies that shape our world,” says Hill. “In a time where the systems we have in place are more confusing than ever, I’m excited to cut through the noise and get to the heart of the matter alongside our listeners.”
In her time as interim host of The Weeds, Hill has hosted episodes about crypto regulation, recreational marijuana, and inflation, among others. New episodes of the show are available weekly on Tuesdays on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
About the Vox Media Podcast Network: Named by Adweek as 2021’s “Hottest in Podcasts,” Vox Media Podcast Network has over 150 active shows featuring industry-leading editorial voices and storytellers from Vox Media’s networks and beyond. From daily news and tech to culture and sports, and talk and interview shows to rich narrative storytelling, the Vox Media Podcast Network is one of the largest, fastest-growing, and most topically diverse collections of premium podcasts. Learn more about the Vox Media Podcast Network here.