Christopher Blank
News DirectorTrading his hometown newsroom of the St. Petersburg Times (alligators, beach bars and Florida Men) for the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Elvis, civil rights and barbecue) more than two decades ago, Christopher continues his quest for culturally rich human interest stories as News Director at WKNO.
He is a regular contributor to NPR and moderates conversations about Memphis' arts and culture community through the station's Culture Desk Facebook page. His numerous awards for both print and radio reporting include 2017 and 2020 Green Eyeshade Awards for Public Service Journalism.
He also serves as Senior Producer for the University of Memphis' Institute for Public Service Reporting. WKNO's collaboration with professional and student journalists has resulted in a number of award-winning radio features, including a special report “The Waiting Decade: Rape Victims Still Seek Justice”, which won First Place prizes in Investigative Reporting and Short Documentary from the Public Media Journalists Association in 2020.
Recent extracurricular projects include helping to produce the first full-length recording of the Orpheum Theatre's historic Wurlitzer organ.
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Memphis voters are split into thirds, with the state's largest Black community shackled to far-flung MAGA counties. -
In the wake of Thursday’s vote to divide Shelby County into three separate congressional districts, lawsuits have been filed – or are in the works -- to challenge the legislation. -
This week on WKNO/Channel 10’s “Behind the Headlines,” Zachary Amos, associate director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis; Kelbert Fagan, program manager at Convergence Memphis; and Ron Brooks of River City Capital join host Eric Barnes and Daily Memphian reporter Bill Dries. -
Tennessee’s Republican supermajority legislature is expected to vote this morning to carve Memphis’s 9th congressional district into three gerrymandered sections, creating new partisan districts that extend far into the middle of the state.
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Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery has won the Democratic nomination for County Mayor.
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As Memphians head to the polls today for the county primaries, state lawmakers are reassembling in Nashville to redraw congressional maps for the fall midterms.
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A special session of the Tennessee legislature starts tomorrow, an effort by Republicans to hastily re-draw the state’s congressional maps before the midterms.
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A recent Supreme Court decision could lead to "Jim Crow 2.0," says Otis Sanford. -
President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will “work hard” to redraw the state’s congressional districts this year.
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This week on WKNO/Channel 10’s “Behind the Headlines,” Eric Barnes hosts a journalist roundtable with Memphis Flyer’s Toby Sells, MLK50’s Katherine Burgess, and Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries and Mary Cashiola.
