A. Martinez Hired at KPCC; the Madeleine Brand Show Gears Up To Go National
This morning marked the last broadcast of KPCC's the Madeleine Brand Show. Don't fret, your favorite Babe of NPR will still be heard weekday mornings on Southern California Public Radio--she'll just be bantering with a swarthy new co-host. 
BrandMartinez via Instagram Brand and Martinez
Brand, who has hosted the eponymous hour-long show since 2010, announced this morning that starting Monday she will share billing with A. Martinez from ESPN Radio. Henceforth, the Madeleine Brand Show will be known as Brand and Martinez.
You might know Martinez as the host of ESPN LA's nightly broadcast from L.A. Live, In The Zone. He has said on Twitter that he will continue hosting Lakers Line for ESPN 710 AM.
His hiring is the culmination of a months-long search for a co-host as the station aims to expand the local program into a national newsmagazine focused on Latino and other ethnic communities.
Back in December, shortly after the station received a $1.8 million dollar grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KPCC posted an ad seeking a co-host for a national news magazine.
"The Co-Host serves as one of two defining voices for a two-hour national news magazine that will evolve from The Madeleine Brand Show with a focus on the Latino and other ethnic communities/interests/issues," the post read.
Sharing the mic should come back easily to Brand, who co-hosted NPR's national newsmagazine Day-to-Day with Alex Chadwick prior to its cancellation in 2009.
According to his profile on ESPN, A. Martinez "was born in Downtown L.A. and grew up in Koreatown in the shadow of the Wiltern Theater. As a kid, he listened to Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrin's Spanish radio play by play of Dodgers games before watching Vin Scully's televised broadcasts as he grew into his teens."
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