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As dawn breaks over Washington, D.C., Madhulika Sikka begins her daily ritual of multitasking—reading the papers, shooting off work-related e-mails, listening to the first feed of “Morning Edition,” the American radio program she heads, and packing off her daughters Priya, 13, and Maya, 11, to school.
Arriving at work a little after 7 a.m., Sikka typically sifts through mounds of information and breaking news that feed the show’s 13 million listeners. “Morning Edition” runs on National Public Radio (NPR), a privately supported, nonprofit broadcaster, and draws on reporting from correspondents in 17 countries and 17 locations across the United States. The show airs weekdays on more than 650 stations across America.
As executive producer, Sikka, 47, plans and helps develop the broad themes for the show. “We provide an excellent range of hard news, features and arts coverage that we hope will set you up for the day and allow you to partake in the daily conversation whatever the topic,” she says.
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Sikka with husband James Millward and daughters Priya and Maya during a family outing |
That philosophy and a loyal fan base have made the two-hour, 30-year-old program one of American public radio’s most venerable and listened-to news magazines.
“It’s a challenge to get the right balance of hard news, features and things that are slightly ‘off’ the news, but that’s what makes it fun,” Sikka says, while acknowledging the support of the show’s “amazing staff and two superb hosts.”
Sikka joined NPR in 2006 as supervising senior producer and quickly made her way to the top. A recipient of four Emmy Awards and three South Asian Journalists Association awards, Sikka’s career included stints on three major American TV networks—ABC, CBS and NBC.
“I think you’ll agree that ‘Morning Edition’ has never sounded better,” Ellen McDonnell, director of NPR’s morning programming, said in an article on the South Asian Journalists Association Web site after Sikka’s promotion in 2009.
“She has elevated both the journalism and production of ‘Morning Edition’…. She has proved herself a skilled manager and generous mentor within the News Division,” McDonnell said in an internal office memo.
Speaking about the impact and relevance of radio today, Sikka says radio has many advantages over television. “Radio is a much more intimate medium than television and thus I find it more revealing in some ways. People seem a little more comfortable without lights and cameras around them,” she says.
Sikka credits her Indian and British upbringing for her different perspectives. Born in New Delhi, Sikka moved to London, where her father, K.L. Sikka, was posted as a diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service, when she was three months old. Though he left the Foreign Service in 1967, he still lives in London with the rest of her family, including one brother and two sisters. Her mother has passed away.
With a bachelor of arts degree in economics and politics from the University of London in 1985, Sikka went on to pursue a master’s in development economics and politics from Cambridge University and graduated in 1987.
—Courtesy SPAN.
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