Nathan Fernando-Frescas

Senior Host, All Things Considered

@heffeln[email protected]

Nathan Fernando-Frescas (Heffel) is a host for All Things Considered on CPR News.

Professional background:
Nathan returned to Colorado Public Radio in 2022, bringing years of on-air experience with radio stations across Colorado. From 2015 to 2018, he was a host and producer for CPR News' daily interview show, Colorado Matters. In 2018, he left CPR to work as an editor for NPR’s All Things Considered in Washington, D.C., before returning to Colorado to become the station manager for KRVG FM, a commercial music station in Western Colorado. Nathan was a host and reporter for KUNC in Greeley, Colo., with an emphasis on coverage of transportation, public infrastructure and LGBT issues. Prior to that, he was news manager for KUVO and began his radio career as an assistant producer for KYGO, both Denver stations.

Nathan's work has been featured on national and international radio shows including PRI's The Takeaway, NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, Here and Now, and ABC's Victoria Statewide Drive. In print, The Denver Post, U.S. News and World Report and numerous other local newspapers around Colorado.

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in government, Lawrence University.

Awards:
Nathan's work in journalism has been recognized by the Associated Press, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and Public Radio News Directors Incorporated.

Colorado Matters

City Planning Through Musical Theory, Trump’s Campaign Style, Supersonic Travel, Daddy ‘Bruce’ Randolph

Eighty percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2080. To prepare, Denver is looking to a city planning method based on musical theory. Then, anthropologists from University of Colorado broke down President-Elect Donald Trump’s unusual communication style. They say mocking his opponents helped propel him to the White House. Plus, a story from deep in the CPR archives about a supersonic jet that landed in Colorado Springs, as a Colorado company hopes to bring back supersonic passenger travel. The story of Daddy “Bruce” Randolph, who made Thanksgiving a little brighter in Denver. And, Denver Art Museum’s director hopes a new “Star Wars” exhibition attracts a lot of visitors, but insists they are not “dumbing down things.”
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

Trump And Conservatism, Independent Voters, Democratic Party Reform, A Colorado Woman Who Almost Ran For President

The future of conservatism in the Trump era. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a longtime Clinton supporter and Democratic party activist, on what happened to the party Tuesday and his role as a leader of the party’s internal reform effort. Then, Pat Schroeder was Colorado’s first congresswoman and explored a run for president in 1987. How Colorado’s third-party and unaffiliated voters factored into the election. And checking back on two-first time candidates we’ve followed through the season. Also, a look at how school finance measures did on Tuesday.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

In Vitro Fertilization For Veterans; Doc Holliday In Colorado; ‘Dog Power’ Movie

Tyler Wilson, of Golden, was paralyzed in Afghanistan. He and and his wife, Crystal, later spent thousands of dollars on IVF to conceive a child. Now, along with other veterans, they’ve convinced Congress to allow the VA to pay for fertility treatment — at least temporarily. Then, Doc Holliday, famed for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, spent more time in Colorado than anywhere else in the Old West — find out why. A movie explores a world of dog-powered sports that goes far beyond mushing huskies in the Iditarod. And, a look at how maggots could soon turn food waste from Boulder-area restaurants into animal feed.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry, A Veteran’s Dance, Voting Memories, And The Band Lost Walks

Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry brings in more than $13B dollars a year, and includes a company, Voormi, that calls itself “the microbrew of apparel.” Then, a new dance performance in Denver captures the darkest days of Todd Bilsborough’s life, when he came back from the Iraq War. The veteran wrote the music for the show. And, the new Denver band “Lost Walks” thought their concept album would resemble a Disney musical, but they ended up with something more like Goth. Plus, long-time voters remember their first time filling out the ballot.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

Hickenlooper Wants To Flip The Senate, Friends Rally To Publish Works Of Late Denver Writer

Gov. John Hickenlooper says he’s never recorded campaign ads for state legislative candidates. But, with Republicans opposed to his signature budget policy, he hopes to flip control of the Senate. That would mean total Democratic control of the legislative and executive branches. Then, a Denver man wrote more than 20 novels, but died before any were published. So his friends are stepping up. And, a web series about people’s complex relationships with food, including a vegetarian who married a Colorado cattle rancher.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

Juror Bias, Solar Storms, A Mission To Catch An Asteroid, Colorado’s Changing Geography

The United States Supreme Court is considering a Colorado case about a juror who made racist comments during deliberations. The verdict could change a longstanding legal bedrock. Then, a big development in how scientists predict weather in space. And a conversation about asteroids, comets and space probes with our regular contributor astronomer and director of Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium, Doug Duncan. Plus, a Colorado man has documented the state’s changing geography using sketches from the 1870s.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas
Colorado Matters

Removing Slavery From Colorado’s Constitution, Campaign Ad Spending, and Tesla’s Legacy

While slavery is banned in Colorado, the state’s constitution allows for it in one circumstance: as a form of punishment for a crime. That doesn’t sit well with Denver’s faith and community leaders who back a ballot measure called Amendment T, which would remove that provision. Then, Colorado voters aren’t seeing nearly the same number of campaign advertisements this election year as they did in 2012. And a new documentary looks at the life of Nikolas Tesla, whose name might be more associated with the car than the man who invented the precursor to the modern electrical motor more than 100 years ago.
By Nathan Fernando-Frescas