NPC Update-1 Podcast National Press Club

Aviation has struggled for years to recruit and retain pilots, mechanics and others, despite the allure of participating in a vital industry moving millions of passengers and tons of cargo safely every day. In this edition of Update-1, NPC Broadcast/Podcast co-chair Adam Konowe speaks with Justin Ellixson-Andrews, executive director of the National Gay Pilots Association, which represents aviators and other like-minded professionals and enthusiasts from the LGBTQ+ community. Topics covered include the organization’s founding, current services offered, advocacy strategy including events, DEI-related challenges in an increasingly polarized political climate, as well as the opportunity to attract and retain a new generation of aviators.

Juan Lorenzo Holmann lives in suburban Washington, D.C., but hopes to one day return to his native Nicaragua. He's the general manager of La Prensa, a newspaper started by his grandfather and the oldest in Nicaragua. On this edition of Update-1, Holmann talks to Broadcast Podcast co-chair Mike Hempen about being charged with money laundering and spending nearly two years in prison before being forced into exile and stripped of his citizenship.

National Press Club member Will Driscoll discusses the risks of clogged arteries and the medical procedures that are available to check your arteries in his newly released book, "Your Arteries: An Owners Manual." In this edition of Update-1, Driscoll talks with NPC Broadcast Podcast member Bill Loveless about his own experience with clogged arteries, why he decided to write the book and the list of medical journals he reviewed in the process.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization focused on safeguarding the right to freedom of information.  Headquartered in Paris France, RSF "defends the right of every human being to have access to free and reliable information,"  As of April 2024, RSF reports 503 journalists and media workers around the world have been unjustly detained. In this edition of Update-1, Broadcast Podcast Committee member Lincoln Smith talks with Celia Mercier, the head of RSF’s South Asia desk, about RSF and her work, including her focus on press freedom in South Asia.

Trade shows and other industry-specific events have experienced a post-pandemic renaissance and the Space Symposium held in Colorado Springs is no exception. The annual event attracts a dynamic mix of established and emerging companies, non-profit organizations, civilian government agencies, plus U.S. and allied military staff. In this episode of Update-1, NPC Broadcast/Podcast Co-chair Adam Konowe speaks with Garrett Reim, space and emerging technologies editor for the Aviation Week Network, about his path in journalism, differences between coverage for mainstream media and the trades, as well as trends he’s tracking at the event. Reim also offers tips for professional communicators, as well as his perspective on the impact of increasing environmental advocacy on perceptions of the aerospace industry.

On May 1, 1960, American pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his U-2 Spy plane over Sverdlovsk in the former Soviet Union. After being captured, sentenced and imprisoned, Powers was later exchanged for Soviet Spy Colonel Rudolph Abel. In this edition of Update-1, Broadcast Podcast Team member Lincoln Smith talks with Gary Powers Jr. about his father's story, his dad's destiny as an American hero of the Cold War era, and the ensuing media coverage of this international incident.