The Conversation: Calculating the Cost of Invasive Species, Big Island Orchestra Holds Auditions

Catherine Cruz is the Host of The Conversation and a member of HPR’s news team. She has been a television reporter in Hawai‘i since 1983 and has won a number of awards and respect from a statewide audience. She spent more than thirty years at KITV, covering beats from government to education and health. Originally from Guam, Cruz is also a co-founder and former Board member and programming chair of Pacific Islanders in Communication (PIC). Catherine is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

Lillian Tsang is Senior Producer with The Conversation. She has been a part of the talk show team since TC first aired on February 14, 2011. Born and raised in Honolulu, she received her BFA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her art career melded with radio after her glass-blowing partner, Anthony Borgioli, introduced her to the college radio station, KTUH. Bitten by the broadcasting bug, Lillian went on to produce and host a her own show “Planet of Sound” for almost a decade. It was a fellow KTUH DJ who told her about a job opening at Hawaiʻi Public Radio as an overnight/weekend board operator. She's since transitioned to a full-time day job and happily part of the HPR ʻohana.

Savannah Harriman-Pote rejoined The Conversation in 2021 after interning for Hawaiʻi Public Radio in the summers of 2018 and 2019. She also produces HPR's podcast Manu Minute in collaboration with The University of Hawaii at Hilo. She was born and raised on the Big Island, and she collects public radio mugs.