Peabody Award-winning producer Doug Berman launched NPR's hit comedy show Car Talk from WBUR-FM in Boston in 1987. In 1992, he left to become chief executive officer of Dewey Cheatham & Howe, the spin-off production company that now produces all Car Talk ventures.

An innovative producer, Berman's background straddles news, entertainment, publishing, syndication, interactive media and merchandising.

He began his career in news, as a production assistant for NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. In 1984, he became the first news director at WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he built a news department and produced and hosted their award-winning daily newsmagazine Around New England.

In 1986, Berman was recruited by WBUR in Boston, where he served as executive producer for news and news director until 1989. He was also elected president of the Public Radio News Directors Association, serving from 1985-1987. In 1989, he became director of national productions for WBUR and focused full-time on developing Car Talk.

From its humble beginnings on WBUR in 1987, Car Talk has grown to a public radio powerhouse. It is heard on more than 370 stations by an audience of more than 2 million people each week, making it one of public radio's most successful shows ever.

Berman has also broken ground in fundraising and station services. He has produced modular, interactive fundraising programs that have set the standard for public radio, and made Car Talk one of the top fundraising and local underwriting vehicles in the industry.

In 1989, under Berman's direction, Car Talk launched a twice-weekly newspaper column with King Features Syndicate, now carried by more than 200 newspapers. In 1991, Car Talk released a Dell trade paperback that sold more than 100,000 copies. And in early 1996, Car Talk launched a tremendously popular, commercially sponsored Internet site.

In recent years, Berman has worked with the Public Radio Fundraising Partnership to improve the quality of fundraising nationwide. And since 1994, Berman has served as producer of the national fundraising editions of Morning Edition for NPR.

Berman earned a bachelor of arts in American Studies from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1984. His hobbies include West African music and throwing a tennis ball for his dog, Zuzu. He is a native of Ardsley, New York, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Journalism, Entertainers, Producers and Directors, Publishing, Talk Radio, Radio Personalities, Charitable / Fundraising Events, Radio, Reporting, News & Media, Npr, Public Radio, Celebrity