Welcome to new World Cafe contributing host and producer, Talia Schlanger

XPN is excited to announce that Canadian broadcaster Talia Schlanger will be joining the World Cafe team as Contributing Host and producer. Schlanger will start in the new position on October 3.

Schlanger is widely known in Canada for her work as a host/interviewer/writer for popular CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) TV and radio programs. She has a passionate love of music, the arts, and current affairs and has a strong background in journalism. She is host, writer and technical producer of CBC Radio 2’s Weekend Morning, and interim host of the weekly national music program Canada Live. She is also the frequent guest host for Weekday Mornings with Tom Power, in addition to CBC Radio 1 programs q., As It Happens and Because News. For CBC TV, Schlanger is host and co-writer of CBC Music’s weekly Backstage Pass show, and has worked on several national network television specials, including CBC Music Festival. She won a 2014 Canadian Screen Award for producing CBC Music’s The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions.

Before joining the CBC, Schlanger, a Toronto native, worked as an actress and singer in rock musicals, and spent a year performing across the US in the first national tour of Green Day’s American Idiot. In Toronto, she spent a year performing in Mamma Mia at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, and understudied the two leads, Scaramouche and Oz, in the original Canadian company of Queen’s We Will Rock You at the Canon Theatre. She has also done TV work and voice overs for commercials, and is a 2013 graduate of Ryerson University’s Radio and Television Arts program.

When it comes to the music, Schlanger is a fierce fan, and counts as some of her all time favorites the following:

The Velvet Underground & Nico
Jeff Buckley – Grace
Robert Johnson – King of the Delta Blues Singers
Fleetwood Mac – Rumors
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
Bjork – Homogenic
Wu Tang Clan – Enter the Wu Tang: 36 Chambers
Donovan – Sunshine Superman
Annie Lennox – Diva
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Coltrane – Blue Train
Amy Winehouse – Frank

While at the CNC, Talia has interviewed many incredible artists, and has had many exciting experiences at the CBC, but probably none as cool as the Quietest Concert Ever – a concert with Serena Ryder performed on the Bay of Fundy – and hosted by her. Check it out below. We can’t wait until she is rocking the halls of XPN/World Cafe. And Talia couldn’t be more excited to be joining the staff here.