Rico Gagliano is an American journalist, podcaster and radio host. He is best known as the co-host, with Brendan Francis Newnam, of American Public Media’s arts-and-culture radio show and podcast "The Dinner Party Download," and as a reporter for the public radio business show "Marketplace". He has also written for television and for print media, including the New York Times. He is currently Head of Audio at the arthouse film studio, distributor and streaming service MUBI.
Biography
Rico is the son of Frank Gagliano, a playwright and theater educator, and Sandra Gagliano, an opera singer and voice instructor.
He received his B.A. in Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a DJ at college station WPTS-FM. He earned an MFA in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Career
Early career
Gagliano contributed arts features and criticism to In Pittsburgh newsweekly (now Pittsburgh City Paper). He briefly served as the paper's music editor. His arts profiles, reviews and previews also appeared regularly in the daily Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1995, Gagliano freelanced for LA Weekly before turning to public radio and filing features for Marketplace, All Things Considered, Weekend America, and the Savvy Traveler.
Gagliano was a full-time reporter for Marketplace from 2006 to 2010. In addition to domestic and foreign business & economy reporting, he wrote and produced the show's “Marketplace Players” satirical sketches.
Dinner Party Download
In 2008, Gagliano co-created the podcast “The Dinner Party Download” with Brendan Francis Newnam. The two also co-hosted and co-produced, with Gagliano as primary editor. Begun as an independent bi-weekly, 15-minute show, it was eventually produced and distributed by American Public Media, and expanded to an hour-long weekly radio show in 2011. It ran for 400 episodes and aired on 183 public radio stations.
The show was nominated for multiple podcasting honors, including “Best Arts And Culture Show” at the 2018 Webby Awards. It was named “Best Food and Drink Podcast” by the Academy of Podcasters at the 2016 Podcast Movement conference and was a finalist the following year. Gagliano's interviews garnered two National Arts & Entertainment Journalism awards and a Southern California Journalism Award from the Los Angeles Press Club.
A companion book written by Gagliano and Newnam, “Brunch Is Hell: How to Save the World by Throwing a Dinner Party” was published by Little Brown Inc. in December 2017. The show aired its final all-new episode the same week.
Post Dinner Party Download
In 2019 and 2020, Gagliano was a recurring guest host for Southern California NPR affiliate KCRW's daily news and culture shows "Press Play" and "Greater L.A.". He earned another Southern California Journalism Award for his "Press Play" profile of Tommy Peltier, an early collaborator of musician Judee Sill.
Gagliano co-hosted two shows for the podcasting network Wondery: "Safe for Work" and "One Plus One." Both ended production in 2020.
Later that year he served as Senior Story Editor for the Crooked Media podcast "Missing America", and as co-writer and co-producer of Wondery's "Jacked: Rise of the New Jack Sound", hosted by Taraji P. Henson. Both were nominated for Webby awards, with "Missing America" winning a "People's Voice" award for "Best Individual Episode - Documentary".
MUBI Podcast
In 2021, MUBI announced Gagliano would host, write and executive produce its first flagship podcast — a documentary-style show exploring movies and cinema culture. It completed its first season in July 2021. In March 2022, MUBI announced Gagliano had been named Head of Audio for the company, and would continue to host the MUBI Podcast. The fifth and latest season began airing in January 2024.
Since its launch, the show has been nominated for two Webby Awards (including "Best Arts/Culture Podcast"), three Ambie awards (including twice for "Best Entertainment Podcast"), and two British Podcast Awards ("Best New Show" and "Best Arts & Culture Show").
Television
Gagliano was a writer's assistant on the sixth season of the TV sitcom Mad About You. He spent several years thereafter writing for comedy, animation and reality TV, including Disney’s Teamo Supremo and Cartoon Network’s Hero 108. He was on the writing staff of MTV's Undressed along with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof and director Steven S. DeKnight.
Gagliano contributes music, food, and travel features to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
References
- "About The Dinner Party Download". The Dinner Party Download. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Rico Gagliano". www.marketplace.org. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- Faughnder, Ryan (28 December 2013). "Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam's 'Dinner Party' breaks ice". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- ^ "Rico Gagliano". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Articles by Rico Gagliano | Freelance Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "An L.A. Diner That's Been Obsessing Over Its Burgers and Pies Since 1947". New York Times. 3 August 2023.
- "Mubi Ramps Up Podcast Focus, Taps Rico Gagliano As Head of Of Audio". Deadline. 9 March 2022.
- Gagliano, Frank (1967). Night of the Dunce: A Play. Dramatists Play Service Inc. ISBN 9780822208228.
- "Dramatists Play Service, Inc". www.dramatists.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "WVUToday Archive". wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- A gala evening of the Berkshire Music Center. Wednesday, August 21, 1963.
- McClain, Heather. "The Host with the Most Comes to Pittsburgh". www.wesa.fm. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Film & Media Studies Undergraduate Alumni".
- "Rico Gagliano, bylines for the Dinner Party Download".
- ""We Rocked, and Now We're Dead" | Industry News | AltWeeklies.com". archive.altweeklies.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Rico Gagliano | Los Angeles News and Events | LA Weekly". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Burning Man". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Weekend America for Saturday, January 15, 2005". weekendamerica.publicradio.org. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "The Savvy Traveler Rundown - Week of December 12, 2003". savvytraveler.publicradio.org. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "India's Dalits seek economic equality". www.marketplace.org. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "What else can airlines charge us for?". www.marketplace.org. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Episode 1: The Watson Twins, Dillinger, Hot Sauce". The Dinner Party Download. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Episode 119: Antonio Banderas, Old-School Candy, and Music from a Non-belieber". The Dinner Party Download. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "'Dinner Party Download' to end production". The Dinner Party Download. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-24.>
- "Dinner Party Download -- The Webby Awards". Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "APM Wins Academy of Podcasters Awards". American Public Media. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Academy of Podcasters: Past Winners". Academy of Podcasters. Podcast Movement. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017.
- "2017 Finalist". Academy of Podcasters. Podcast Movement. August 23, 2017. Archived from the original on February 5, 2019.
- "National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards – Los Angeles Press Club" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards – Los Angeles Press Club" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards – Los Angeles Press Club" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "New & Noteworthy". The New York Times. 2017-12-05. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- Gagliano, Rico (2019-09-02). "Press Play: More House Democrats Push for Impeachment". KCRW. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- Gagliano, Rico (2019-12-09). "Greater L.A.: Housing development uproots 'botanical museum' in West Hollywood". KCRW. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- "Winners of the 61st SoCal Journalism Awards 2019" (PDF). LA Press Club. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- Gagliano, Rico (2018-11-29). "83-year-old almond seller at Hollywood Farmers' Market has a rich musical history". KCRW. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- "7 Podcasts You Should Be Listening to in 2019". Cosmopolitan. 25 November 2019.
- "One Plus One". ART19. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- "Missing America Episode 1 - Trumpism". Crooked Media.
- "Taraji P. Henson to Host, Produce Podcast Series on Rise and Fall of New Jack Swing". Variety. 15 October 2020.
- "Top Documentary Podcasts-The Webby Awards". The Webby Awards.
- "Top Entertainment Podcasts-The Webby Awards". The Webby Awards.
- "MUBI Podcast Sets Host, Premiere Date for Six-Episode First Season". Indiewire. 26 May 2021.
- "Mubi Ramps Up Podcast Focus, Taps Rico Gagliano As Head Of Audio". Deadline. 9 March 2022.
- "Sofia Coppola Joins the MUBI Podcast for a Season About Fashion and Film". Indiewire. 16 January 2024.
- "2023 Winners and Nominees". ambies.com. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
- "2024 Nominees". ambies.com. Retrieved 18 Feb 2024.
- "Nominees Announced For the 2022 British Podcast Awards". radiotoday.co.uk. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
- "British Podcast Awards nominees revealed". britishpodcastawards.com. 2024-07-25.
- "Damon Lindelof Finds Freedom in Limitations and Ponders the Paradoxes of Fandom". The Dinner Party Download. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- Gagliano, Rico (2023-08-03). "An L.A. Diner That's Been Obsessing Over Its Burgers and Pies Since 1947". New York Times.
- Gagliano, Rico (2020-12-09). "Why Travel Writer and Trans Pioneer Jan Morris is My Itinerant Literary Hero". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- Gagliano, Rico (2020-03-26). "Seven Kid-Friendly Songs That Won't Drive Parents Insane". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-04-16.