Nil Köksal is the new host of CBC’s As It Happens — and she’s ready to make radio ‘magic’

The primary time Nil Köksal sat down on the mic within the As It Occurs studio, she says it felt like magic.

It was 2019, and the CBC journalist was taking a break from her standard job internet hosting World Report to fill in at CBC Radio’s flagship night present affairs present. She’s since returned to visitor host this system a number of occasions.

However the subsequent time she sits within the host’s chair on Sept. 5, she’ll be sticking round.

Köksal, a globetrotting reporter with 20 years of expertise on the CBC, would be the new host of As It Occurs, the weeknight radio program that blends exhausting information, difficult conversations and quirky enjoyable. She’ll be becoming a member of co-host Chris Howden and taking on for veteran broadcaster Carol Off, who stepped down from the position in February after 16 years.

“I might at all times depart after my stints raving concerning the type of tradition and vitality that’s As It Occurs,” Köksal stated. “And so I am actually excited to construct on that, and the a long time and a long time of labor up to now, to construct on what Carol and the group did during the last 16 years and simply make extra audio magic.”

As It Occurs government producer Austin Webb says Köksal will assist usher in a brand new period on the present, which first hit the airwaves in 1968.

“As It Occurs wants a bunch who’s captivated with this system’s legacy and the place it holds within the lives of so many listeners. On the identical time, it is essential to maintain the present recent, at all times trying to find new tales from world wide and at all times listening for that surprising second on the different finish of the road,” he stated.

“Nil embodies these qualities and we could not be extra thrilled to have her be a part of Chris and assist carry As It Occurs ahead.”

Howden referred to as the appointment “implausible information for everybody who listens to As It Occurs — to not point out all of us who work on it.”

“Nil is an impressed and provoking selection. We already know she’s a superb, phenomenal journalist: quick-thinking, curious and compassionate,” he stated.

“And — crucially  — we additionally know her sense of humour ranges from the elegant to the ridiculous. So professionally, she is exceptional. And personally, she is a delight. All of which makes Nil the proper individual to take AIH by means of no matter is to return over the following months and years.”

‘I do know what it is wish to be painted in a sure method’

Köksal’s profession and private life have spanned a number of provinces, nations and continents.

She was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and moved to Canada in 1981 on the age of 4. She’s lived in Orangeville and Peterborough, Ont., Vancouver and White Rock, B.C., and Toronto.

She began at the CBC 20 years in the past as an intern masking arts, earlier than becoming a member of CBC Information. Her work in TV and radio has seen her report from varied nations, together with Tunisia, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.Ok. She spent three years serving as a correspondent primarily based in Istanbul and has been the host of World Report since 2018.

All of those experiences, she stated, make her a singular match for As It Occurs, an interview program with a tagline that invites listeners to treat their ears to a “nightly ’round-the-world trip.“

“Being from elsewhere, I am mechanically excited about worldwide tales,” Köksal stated.

“You are giving folks a glimpse into a spot or folks they could not likely know they usually might have misconceptions about. However these conversations and people tales can remind folks of how comparable we’re. And there is positively energy in that as properly. And I do not know that we get sufficient of that — particularly now.”

Her major objective as a journalist, she stated, is to assist listeners perceive all of the nuance and complexity of the folks and locations on the coronary heart of her interviews.

“It is having a wider lens, but additionally feeling the load of the duty to inform tales absolutely. To not be reductive, not lean on tropes or misconceptions about locations, not go in with an concept about a spot or folks, however be open to them,” she stated.

For her, it is a journalistic precept that is rooted within the deeply private.

“I do know what it is wish to to be painted in a sure method or for folks to make assumptions and have misconceptions about who you’re or the place you are from, whether or not it is a joke in elementary faculty or a instructor who does not know issues about the place you are from and simply kind of laughs it off,” Köksal stated.

“These [moments] stick with you. So I care lots about every thing — about how we pronounce any person’s title to the place they’re from to the fact of the experiences of the place they’re from — as a result of everyone needs to be understood and heard.”

Cathy Perry, government director of present affairs and investigative for CBC Information, stated Köksal’s “insights, expertise and enthusiasm to be taught new issues make her a singular match for an unconventional present like Because it Occurs.”

“Chopping to the guts of a narrative and placing the information into context, even within the midst of breaking information, have made Nil a useful a part of the CBC Information group,” Perry stated in a media launch asserting the appointment.

“Whereas we all know World Report listeners will miss her regular supply and fast banter with native hosts every morning, audiences will now have an opportunity to expertise her boundless curiosity and skill to genuinely join with folks in any state of affairs to deepen the dialog.”

Getting just a little foolish

Whereas Köksal has a variety of expertise masking hard-hitting information — together with the worldwide pandemic, the Syrian refugee disaster and the rise of ISIS — she stated she will’t wait to dig into the bizarre, enjoyable or downright foolish interviews that As It Occurs has constructed a popularity for.

Already, throughout her stints as a visitor host, she’s interviewed a seniors’ residence employee who helped residents recreate well-known album covers, a mathematician who decided the precise variety of hotdogs a human being may conceivably eat in 10 minutes and the mastermind of a contest during which dozens of individuals named Josh battle one another with pool noodles.

“These tales, you understand, they’re foolish, however they provide you perception into issues typically that actually aren’t foolish. And the commonalities between folks world wide can come by means of in these tales,” she stated.

In actual fact, it is all half and parcel along with her method to masking folks and locations in a method that feels genuine and holistic. 

“I am a giant proponent of not solely masking locations when unhealthy issues occur, proper? You need to be in these locations over a very long time. And that is a robust a part of As It Occurs as properly, as a result of we’re capable of join with folks … on a second’s discover from wherever on the earth,” she stated.

“So we’re not simply doing the story a few bombing or an assault. There are such a lot of tales to inform about Palestinians, about Israelis, about Turks, about folks in Africa and India, that we’re not at all times telling. So I am excited concerning the alternatives to inform these tales.”

Köksal’s final day at World Report will by July 20, and the seek for a brand new host begins within the weeks forward. 

“It has been a privilege to host World Report during the last 4 years and to be part of folks’s each day routine, to maintain them knowledgeable, notably throughout such tough occasions,” she stated.

She’ll be a part of her new As It Occurs co-host Chris Howden on Monday to speak about her new position. Listeners can tune in on CBC Radio One at 6:30 p.m. (7 p.m. in Newfoundland), or stream it stay or on-demand on CBC Pay attention.