Soterios Johnson is an American radio journalist and the former local host of National Public Radio's Morning Edition on New York City public-radio station WNYC. [1] [2]
Johnson was named after his Greek maternal grandfather. [3] His surname comes from his paternal grandfather, Ioannou, who moved to New York from Cyprus. [3] A native of Highland Park, New Jersey, [4] Johnson was introduced to radio by his father, who was a recording engineer at WNEW. [3]
Johnson graduated from Highland Park High School, where he participated in the school's radio station. [4] While attending Columbia University in New York City, he worked at a small FM station in his hometown [3] and at the college's WKCR-FM (89.9 FM) radio station. [2] In 1990, he graduated with a degree in American history from Columbia University's Columbia College. [3] He then earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Johnson began working for NPR in an overnight position, and also covered weekends and holidays. [3] He became the permanent host of Morning Edition in summer 2003. [3]
In the summer of 2016, Johnson left WNYC to join the University of California, Davis as Director of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Programs. [4]
As of November 2016, Johnson lives in California with his husband. [4]
His name inspired the name of New York City three-piece band Satirius Johnson. [1]
Jonathan Coulton, a folk-rock artist based in New York, wrote a song called "Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance", which presents a fictionalized secret life of Johnson as a club-goer. [1] [5]
For nearly two decades, listeners of WYNC would wake up to Soterios Johnson's voice every day at 6am. Johnson was a radio journalist and local host of NPR's Morning Edison on WNYC until August 2016. He got his start in radio at Highland Park High School, where he participated in the high school's radio station after school