New Mexico in Focus Has a New Host!

Award-winning journalist Nash Jones has joined our show as the new host and reporter. Since 2021, Nash has worked as the local host and reporter for NPR’s “All Things Considered” at KUNM, 89.9 FM, broadcasting from the University of New Mexico, and prior to that served as the local host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”   

Nash brings a large cache of audience trust, earned through several years of rigorous, fact-based reporting to our station. We are thrilled to add Nash to our team, and we can’t wait to get started.  

“Nash will help deliver on our commitment to tackle complex community issues while presenting audiences with independent, objective news and meaningful analysis across platforms,” commented NMPBS General Manager and CEO Franz Joachim.   

“Nash has great journalistic instincts and a fantastic track record,” added NMPBS Director of Content Joan Rebecchi. “We look forward to creating a shared editorial vision as part of the best weekly news program we can produce.”   

Nash’s voice will be familiar to public media audiences in New Mexico after countless broadcasts and stories for KUNM. Their face will ring a bell for careful NMiF viewers, too — Nash began guest hosting and producing segments for the show in 2023. That work included deep dives into election-map redistricting, instability within the state government workforce and more.   

Nash and NMPBS have big plans for the future. In addition to hosting NMiF, Nash will produce field reports, conduct interviews and help expand journalistic offerings across multiple platforms, including broadcast, streaming, our website and social media.  

“I’m committed to serving New Mexico through public media and am grateful to get the chance to continue and expand that work with NMPBS,” Jones said. “New Mexico in Focus has long been an essential part of the state’s local news landscape, and I’m excited to become a part of its continued growth to meet this moment and meet New Mexicans where they are. I hope my dear community of KUNM listeners will accept my invitation to join me on New Mexico in Focus, and I look forward to introducing myself to NMPBS viewers and building their trust.”  

Nash’s first day in the building will be in a couple weeks, and you can expect to see them on the show pretty shortly after that.  

Here is a short bio on Nash to help you get to know them better:   

Nash is a proud member of the transgender community and uses they/them pronouns. They were born and raised in Albuquerque and graduated from Albuquerque Academy. They earned a B.A. in cultural anthropology and sociology from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Later, Nash moved back to Albuquerque, where they founded “Duke City Story Slam,” a live storytelling competition à la “The Moth Radio Hour,” having fallen in love with personal storytelling on the West Coast and finding no outlet for it here. Nash has served on the boards of Storytellers of New Mexico and HostCon Fund, a nonprofit that works to grow public media hosts through professional development.   

Nash comes to NMPBS from KUNM radio, 89.9 FM, where they’ve worked as a host and general assignment reporter since 2018 and received national recognition from the Public Media Journalists Association for their work in audience engagement, government and democracy reporting and spot news.

Nash has received regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and statewide recognition from the New Mexico Press Women. Nash’s reporting has been carried nationally by NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau and locally by NMPBS, Source New Mexico, KRWG, the Las Cruces Sun-News, the Roswell Daily Record, New Mexico Political Report and City Desk ABQ.   

Prior to journalism, Nash worked in strategic communication, professional development and community education, where they honed their skills of breaking down complex topics for the masses and public speaking. 

When not following the news, Nash enjoys spending time with family, including their partner and three dogs, taking on home improvement projects, catching a movie, having a coffee and embroidering. 

-Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer