Sam Baker
Senior Editor and Morning Edition HostSam Baker is KERA's senior editor and local host for Morning Edition. The native of Beaumont, Texas, also edits and produces radio commentaries and Vital Signs, a series that's part of the station's Breakthroughs initiative. He also was the longtime host of KERA 13’s Emmy Award-winning public affairs program On the Record. He also won an Emmy in 2008 for KERA’s Sharing the Power: A Voter’s Voice Special, and has earned honors from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors Inc.
Sam worked in commercial television at NBC and CBS affiliates for six years before moving to public broadcasting. He was news director and Morning Edition host at KWGS-FM in Tulsa, Okla., for three years and moved to KERA in 1991. He has served on the board of Public Radio News Directors Inc. and is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators.
As a volunteer, Sam for seven years produced a weekly series, Jazz in Words and Music, for Reading and Radio Resources, an agency serving the visually impaired. He is also a former member on the board of Southwest Transplant Alliance, a private nonprofit organization that provides organs and tissues for transplantation.
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Texas ranked 43 out of 50 states based on seven metrics. A neurologist from Plano explains how those measures apply to good brain health.
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The study suggests cutting a teaspoon of salt each day can work as well as hypertension medication. A North Texas doctor explains.
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Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have become popular as people struggle with weight gain. Dr. Jaime Almandoz of UT Southwestern explains how they work and who should use them.
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You normally sit down to check your blood pressure, but UT Southwestern researchers have found standing up may more accurately show if you have hypertension.
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Obesity, poor diet, and a lack of physical activity are risk factors, but an investigative report found a lack of insurance often keeps East Texans from diabetes care.
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Older people tend to get lung cancer, but a new study finds an increase in the disease among younger women, 35 to 54. A North Texas pulmonologist shares possible reasons.
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The RSV virus usually shows up in kids in the fall. A North Texas doctor explains why there was a sharp spike in positive tests during October.
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All candies contain sugar. But some types of candy are less harmful to your teeth's enamel than others. A North Texas dentist points out the best and worst.
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The study, supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health, included more than 180,000 adults with an average age of 70.
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UT Health Houston researchers designed RAPIDO, to help improve outcomes for Latinos with stroke. It's a major killer among Latino men and women.
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Of more than 5,300 people involved, those who exercised between 7 and 9 a.m. had better weight loss. A North Texas sports medicine physician weighs in on the results.
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A North Texas infectious disease specialist talks about why syphilis remains a problem, and why she thinks education is the solution.