Tom Cole WPFW Biography: Early Life, Career, Wife & Net Worth

Tom Cole is a senior editor at NPR’s Arts Desk. He creates, edits, produces, and reports on stories about art, culture, music, film, and theatre for NPR’s news magazines Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Cole has had these responsibilities since February 1990.

Tom Cole WPFW Biography

Tom Cole was born on April 28, 1949, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Helen Te Ata and John Cole. At the age of two, his family relocated to Moore, Oklahoma, where both of his parents had grown up. His father instilled in him the importance of hard work and diligence from an early age.

Career

Tom Cole WPFW formerly spent three and a half years as an associate producer for NPR’s daily classical music program Performance Today, as well as Morning Edition, where he managed, edited, and produced arts and culture stories.

Cole worked for Washington, DC-based NPR member station WAMU-FM from April 1979 to July 1986. He was the production manager in charge of the studio’s daily operations, as well as a reporter who wrote and produced music features for local and national broadcasts.

Tom Cole also worked as a producer for Voice of America Europe between October 1985 and November 1986. Cole has hosted and produced a weekly three-hour music and interview program that has aired on Washington’s public radio station, WPFW-FM, since 1977.

Cole has produced or participated in several public radio productions over his career. He co-edited the Peabody Award-winning National Public Radio documentary “I Must Keep Fightin’: The Art of Paul Robeson.” He was also an advisor, contributor, and co-editor of “The NPR 100,” a Peabody Award-winning series highlighting the top 100 songs of the twentieth century.

Cole, a native of Washington, D.C., studied classical guitar at both The American University and privately. He also studied comparative literature at Catholic University in Washington, DC and Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.

Personal Life

Tom Cole is married to Ellen Cole and has one child together. Ellen Cole is not identified as a wife by another source, implying that knowledge about Tom Cole’s marital status is limited or unclear.

Tom Cole WPFW Net Worth

Report puts his net worth at around $935,000. This stat indicates his successful political career and many positions in the public media.