WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn to step down from Morning Edition role

After a quarter century at WHYY, Morning Edition host Jennifer Lynn has decided to step away from the position to pursue new opportunities — and, perhaps, sleep in later.

Jennifer became WHYY’s full-time Morning Edition host in 2014 and has anchored the station’s flagship morning-drive slot with a steady, trusted voice.

As a teenager growing up in Delaware, she began practicing for a career in broadcasting by recording herself reading the News Journal.

In college, Jennifer fell in love with NPR, but spent the first chapter of her career in commercial radio.

By 2001, she got her foot in the door at WHYY, working as a fill-in host and producing specials.

After Jennifer became WHYY’s Morning Edition host, she brought her passion for politics, sports and music to the airwaves. This included interviewing former President Jimmy Carter, talking with legendary shortstop Larry Bowa during the Phillies 2023 playoff run, and bringing in a local trumpet master to demonstrate hitting the high notes in the Olympic theme during the postponed 2021 summer games.

Some of Jennifer’s most vivid memories include the first weeks and months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While employers across the region were scrambling to figure out how to navigate the pandemic — who could be remote? Who needed to be in the building? — Jennifer was one of those essential workers, a dose of rhythm and normalcy in uncertain times. A necessity listeners demanded.

Jennifer then initiated a series of profiles to highlight how people in the region were dealing with the first weeks of COVID when we were still unsure how the disease spread and the extent of the danger.

Jennifer says her decision to leave WHYY was a difficult one, but she was ready for the next step.

Jennifer will continue on air on WHYY-FM through the end of September. Ahead of her exit, she sat down with WHYY executive producer Kevin McCorry to reflect on her career.

TRANSCRIPT:

JENNIFER LYNN:  This is WHYY’s Morning Edition. Good morning. I’m Jennifer Lynn. Earlier this summer, I made an announcement on social media that I’m leaving my position as Morning Edition host and producer here at WHYY after 25 years at the station, half of which I’ve spent in the mornings with you. And it was a really hard decision. It was very hard to write those words and release them out there for everybody to see, but I did it.

KEVIN McCORRY: Why’d you do it, Jennifer?

JL: Hi, Kevin. I’m sitting with Kevin McCorry, one of my very favorite people here at WHYY, and executive producer. Well, you said you would sit with me and talk about this, and here you are. Thank you for joining me this morning.

KM: Yeah. My pleasure, Jennifer. So yeah, I just want to get some insight into your thinking here. It was a long run, and you had a really great run at WHYY, but you decided it was time to end?

JL: Yeah. I mean, I think opportunities present themselves, and maybe this is a sort of an internal opportunity to keep my eyes wide open and try for something new, you know? I’ve been in this industry for 40 years. 25 at WHYY. And I don’t think that that’s, you know, my only pass through in doing different work in radio and media. I think there’s some other stuff — I don’t know, even know what it is yet — but I think I want to make some room for that. When the timing is right and when it comes to me, I’ll know it. I’ll know it when I know it.

KM: Could you say more about your approach to how you did the morning job? Like, what was your mentality every morning?

JL: My mentality was exhaustion. Fueled by caffeine and good vibes from the great listeners (Laughs). My mentality was: ‘come in with a clean slate.’ Every day was brand new, and, I use that expression, ‘eyes wide open,’ quite a bit I’m realizing, and that’s how the day appeared to me. I didn’t have expectations. I would look to see what the news of the day was and bring that to the listeners, and then also sort of the energy of the day was really important, creating the tone of the day. I looked at all those things as I started the morning and let it just unfold.

KM: Maybe people don’t realize, but it’s a pretty shoestring operation here in the morning at WHYY. It’s you and really one other producer. You’re isolated a little bit, and you have to be kind of mentally tough to come in every day and do it on your own and get the moxie up to make it happen pretty much on your own. And you have proven that day after day. You’re reliable. People can count on you. They trust you, and you just keep showing up, showing up, showing up, and that’s like, you know, uh, factor number one in a job like this.

JL: I think so. I mean, factor number one is high discipline. I’ve always been a very disciplined person. It comes just out of my youth, and it was just something that happened, and I’ve carried that into sports over the years and carried it in, into my career. I always say doing Morning Edition is sort of like taking care of my own infant who is myself. You know, there’s strategic napping and strategic feeding — all to keep the energy level up. But it’s just a magnitude of discipline, which a lot of us have at this stages of our careers.

KM: And what do you think about your relationship with your audience? So many people connect with you, your voice, your style, and have really grown a relationship with you through the years.

JL: It is a relationship, and I know it even more so now that I’ve made this announcement. And I hear from people, and they’re so kind, and I don’t wanna get into that crackling voice moment that I am trying to stave off. But, um, you know, yes, I know it, and it goes both ways. I mean, I’m very sensitive to, you know, sort of the mind’s eye listener, because I can’t see anybody obviously. But, you know, I sort of know who this person is in our region — their love of news and information and factual things, and they have an intelligence, an emotional intelligence that I’m trying to speak to as well and sort of reach through that microphone to them, to one person. I’ve always been trying to shape that as I do my work.

KM: Any favorite moments you wanna shout out from over the years?

JL: I’ve just met so many lovely people. Again, the listeners. Sometimes they show up for our events, and it’s wonderful to shake hands. And it’s not just a shake, it’s, like, we’ll talk and hold hands literally as we’re talking, and that is a great sharing of wonderful energy. I’ve interviewed a lot of people, but it’s like choosing your favorite child. I really can’t choose a favorite interview. I get pretty ramped up for all of them, and they’ve all been very telling and important to, to our listeners, I hope.

KM: Was there a breaking news moment in a morning that — all of a sudden, oh, my goodness, you had to snap into focus, things needed to come together — that is more memorable than another?

JL: The COVID experience and how news changed literally every other second on the air. And the hypervigilance and hyperawareness it took to stay on top of that story for so long was both exhausting and exhilarating. And I do think that was a real challenge in my career.

KM: And I guess what do you hope that longtime listeners of yours, fans of yours, take away from even this conversation now? Like, what message do you wanna send them?

JL: I will be thinking of you, hopefully see you on something that looks like the other side. I’ve enjoyed this. I’ve been happy to be here. I think you’ve taken note of that and noticed, and that makes me feel seen, and I appreciate it.

KM: I think it’s a nice place to end it.

JL: Thank you. Thanks for being here.