The Conversation

Host Bios

Daljit Dhaliwal is anchor of the PBS show Wide Angle, a weekly international documentary series that airs nationwide on July 11th. From 2002 to 2004, Dhaliwal was based in Atlanta where she anchored CNN International's Your World Today a daily, two-hour live news broadcast, and hosted the weekend edition of World Report, CNN's longest running program. She has moderated several United Nations conferences in New York and The Hague. She was named by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." Most recently, she has appeared as guest host of numerous public broadcasting news and interview programs, including public television's Charlie Rose, public radio's On the Media and The Brian Lehrer Show, and the BBC World News.

Dhaliwal holds a bachelor's degree from University of East London, a master's degree from University of London, and an honorary doctorate from the University of East London. Dhaliwal lives in New York.

David Cruz has spent the last 15 years in news. He began as a general assignment reporter with North Hudson News, a nightly newscast in Northern New Jersey, and then became editor in chief of the Hudson Reporter, a 90,000-circulation weekly newspaper covering Hudson County. He also wrote the "Latin Beat," the most widely-read column in Hudson County at the time.

Cruz has been around music and the arts for some time, having served as the Public Relations and Marketing Director for Newark Symphony Hall and as Executive Director of Liberty Center for the Performing Arts in Jersey City. He was even one of the key players in the re-opening of the Stone Pony, Asbury Park's venerable rock & roll club, which helped launch the career of Bruce Springsteen and others.

Cruz is a Knight Center for Specialized Journalism Fellow and winner of a number of Journalism awards from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. He is a graduate of New Jersey City University, where he majored in Communications.

Danyel Smith is a former editor-at-large for Time Inc . and a former editor-in-chief of Vibe . She's a dedicated NBA fan, and counts the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Kevin Garnett as her favorite hoops heroes. Danyel has written for Elle, Time, Essence, the New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Condé Nast Media Group, and the New York Times . She's the author of the San Francisco Chronicle-bestselling novel More Like Wrestling , and she wrote the introduction for the New York Times-bestseller Tupac Shakur . Her second novel, Bliss , was published in 2005.

Last novel read? Parkhurst's The Dogs of Babel . Last book of nonfiction? Hersh's The Dark Side of Camelot . Last state visited? Florida. Last country/overseas territory of the UK visited? Anguilla. Favorite place in New York City? Midpoint of the Brooklyn Bridge at twilight, and at midnight.

Additional information on staff biographies for all of WNYC's shows.
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