Greg Allen

As NPR's Miami correspondent, Greg Allen reports on the diverse issues and developments tied to the Southeast. He covers everything from breaking news to economic and political stories to arts and human interest features. He moved into this role in 2006, after four years as NPR's Midwest correspondent.

Allen was a key part of NPR’s coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, providing some of the first reports on the disaster. He was on the frontlines of NPR’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, arriving in New Orleans before the storm hit and filing on the chaos and flooding that hit the city as the levees broke. Allen's reporting played an important role in NPR’s coverage of the aftermath and the rebuilding of New Orleans, as well as in coverage of the BP oil spill which brought new hardships to the Gulf coast.

As NPR’s only correspondent in Florida, Allen covered the dizzying boom and bust of the state’s real estate market, the state’s important role in the 2008 presidential election and has produced stories highlighting the state’s unique culture and natural beauty, from Miami’s Little Havana to the Everglades.

Allen has spent more than three decades in radio news, the first ten as a reporter in Ohio and Philadelphia and the last as an editor, producer and reporter at NPR.

Before moving into reporting, Allen served as the executive producer of NPR's national daily live call-in show, Talk of the Nation. As executive producer he handled the day-to-day operations of the program as well as developed and produced remote broadcasts with live audiences and special breaking news coverage. He was with Talk of the Nation from 2000 to 2002.

Prior to that position, Allen spent three years as a senior editor for NPR's Morning Edition, developing stories and interviews, shaping the program's editorial direction, and supervising the program's staff. In 1993, he started a four year stint as an editor with Morning Edition just after working as Morning Edition's swing editor, providing editorial and production supervision in the early morning hours. Allen also worked for a time as the editor of NPR's National Desk.

Before coming to NPR, Allen was a reporter with NPR member station WHYY-FM in Philadelphia from 1987 to 1990.

His radio career includes serving as the producer of Freedom's Doors Media Project -- five radio documentaries on immigration in American cities that was distributed through NPR's Horizons series -- frequent freelance work with NPR, Monitor Radio, Voice of America, and WHYY-FM, and work as a reporter/producer of NPR member station WYSO-FM in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Allen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, with a B.A. cum laude. As a student and after graduation, Allen worked at WXPN-FM, the public radio station on campus, as a host and producer for a weekly folk music program that included interviews, features, live and recorded music.

 

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2:49am

Mon July 25, 2011
Humans

Florida Fossil Hunter Gets Credit For Big Find

It's one of the most significant pieces of prehistoric art ever found in North America — a carving of a mammoth or mastodon on a piece of fossilized bone dating back to the Ice Age. An amateur fossil hunter found it several years ago in Vero Beach, Florida. Now, after three years of study, a team of researchers say they believe it's authentic.

Historic Find Sat In Box Under Sink

James Kennedy is quick to tell you, he doesn't know all that much about archaeology — or prehistoric art.

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2:58pm

Thu July 21, 2011
Movies

On Location: The Central Florida Of 'The Yearling'

When Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings published her novel The Yearling in 1938, it was an almost instant success, winning her a legion of readers as well as the Pulitzer Prize. MGM bought the film rights to the movie, and its executives agreed with Rawlings that the movie had to be filmed on location — in a densely wooded and sparsely populated part of Florida known as the "Big Scrub."

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12:01am

Tue July 19, 2011
Sports

At 61, Nyad Resurfaces For Cuba To Key West Swim

More than 30 years after her last big swim, Diana Nyad is back in the water. Nyad, a former commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, became well-known in the 1970s for her swim around Manhattan Island and, a few years later, for swimming from the Bahamas to Florida.

Now, at age 61, she'll soon be attempting a 103-mile swim from Cuba to Key West. She's been training relentlessly — with 9-hour, 15-hour, even a 24-hour swim.

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1:34pm

Thu July 7, 2011
Space

End Of Shuttle Program Leaves Thousands Jobless

Credit Greg Allen / NPR

For thousands of people in Florida, the last launch of the space shuttle is not just the end of an era, it's also the end of a career. Nearly 8,000 men and women who worked on the space shuttle have been laid off — a blow to an area where unemployment is well above the national average.

But even as the shuttle ends, many on the Space Coast are optimistic about the region's future.

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7:21am

Sat June 11, 2011
Politics

Fla.'s Unpopular Governor Could Hinder GOP In 2012

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images

In his first six months as Florida's governor, Republican Rick Scott has had a major impact on the state.

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