Key producer of 'Kalb Report' at Club set to join C-SPAN as chief of staff

For more than 20 seasons, former National Press Club President Mike Freedman produced the "Kalb Report" at the Club. For most of that time his key producer and long-time colleague was Heather Date. The two brought the biggest names in journalism to the Club, from Woodward and Bernstein to Rupert Murdoch to Barbara Walters — all interviewed by the great Marvin Kalb in the ballroom. These were marquee events and the Club was part of the production process.

Date, who was a fixture at the Club during Kalb Week, worked with Freedman at George Washington University and more recently at the University of Maryland. She mentored Lindsay Underwood, who was the Club's communications director before the disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now Date is moving to another institution closely associated with the Press Club — C-SPAN, where she will be chief of staff to NPC member Sam Feist, former CNN bureau chief and a former member of the board of directors of the National Press Club Journalism Institute. Feist is now CEO at C-SPAN. C-SPAN crews are a regular presence at the Press Club, covering Club events and news conferences for their robust, bipartisan audience in DC and across the country. 

Feist said, “Heather Date is an outstanding executive who will lead high-priority initiatives and partnerships for C-SPAN as we develop new ways to reach our audiences, grow our revenues, and adapt our programming to meet this moment in American politics."

“We know democracy thrives when citizens are informed, engaged, and empowered — and that’s precisely what C-SPAN makes possible. I am proud to join this organization in advancing its essential mission of transparent, unfiltered access to America’s democracy,” Date said.

Date joins C-SPAN in early August.