Kai Ryssdal

Host and Senior Editor

SHORT BIO

Kai is the host and senior editor of “Marketplace,” the most widely heard program on business and the economy — radio or television, commercial or public broadcasting — in the country. Kai speaks regularly with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, startup entrepreneurs, small-business owners and everyday participants in the American and global economies. Before his career in broadcasting, Kai served in the United States Navy and United States Foreign Service. He’s a graduate of Emory University and Georgetown University. Kai lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four children.

Latest Stories (5,851)

“Retirement’s a wonderful invention — I just love it”

Jan 24, 2025
As part of our new series, “The Age of Work,” Marketplace is exploring the aging U.S. labor force.
John Conrad, one of Cumberland County’s many retired residents on the Soldier’s Beach Trail, which he helped build.
Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace

This 24-hour diner helps New Yorkers make it through the night

Jan 23, 2025
24-hour diners have been disappearing in New York. Reporter Priya Krishna worked the graveyard shift at one that reopened and found it very lively.
Kellogg's Diner closed during the pandemic and reopened. New York Times reporter Priya Krishna stayed awake to sample the atmosphere and the food.
Victor J. Blue/Getty Images

Immigration is tied to food security, farmer says, and food security is tied to national security

Jan 22, 2025
Patrick Smith of Loftus Ranches relies on temporary workers to tend his crops. Immigration policy has broad impact, he says.
Patrick Smith grows apples and hops at Loftus Ranches in Yakima, Washington.
Courtesy Loftus Ranches

Why the history genre is big business right now

Jan 17, 2025
Books, newsletters and podcasts about the past, including "The Rest Is History," are popular and profitable, explains journalist Will Dunn.
The past has become more popular in media like books, podcasts and newsletters.
georgeclerk/Getty Images

Is hardening a home against fire affordable? It depends.

Jan 16, 2025
The costs can vary widely and using the right building materials is essential, says wildfire policy analyst Kimiko Barrett.
A house with fiber cement siding, a building material that is less flammable than wood.
Public Domain

Outgoing Commerce chief: "The only way to win is to out-innovate them"

Jan 14, 2025
Kai Ryssdal does an "exit interview" with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo meets with Marketplace to discuss the Biden administration's economic legacy, including the CHIPS Act, the growth of manufacturing and trade relations with China.
Leon Neal/Getty Images

From satellites to AI, tech has a role to play in battling blazes

Jan 13, 2025
Kate Dargan Marquis of the Moore Foundation discusses spurring research and development to keep up with the growing impact of wildfires.
Firefighters work to contain the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County.
Ali Matin/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Almost all of the new cars sold in Norway are electric. Here's how the country did it.

Close to 30% of cars on the road and 96% of car sales in Norway are EVs.
Both right- and left-leaning governments have maintained policies incentivizing EV purchases, said Lundgren. Above, several EVs drive on a road in Oslo, Norway.

I dreamed of a post-PowerPoint world. Then I woke up.

Dec 18, 2024
Every meeting has a PowerPoint, but not every meeting needs one. Matt Alston explains the program's long corporate tyranny.
Jeff Bezos sidelined PowerPoint as a corporate tool at Amazon. But you can buy the program at the site.
Getty Images

Has the free medical school experiment failed?

NYU's experience rebuts the idea that tuition-free programs open doors to low-income students, per reporting by Rose Horowitch at The Atlantic.
At NYU, the percentages of Black students and financially disadvantaged students decreased, according to The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images