Amrit Singh

Amrit graduated magna cum laude from Boston University — studying political science, philosophy, and music — and then, in a move that made considerable sense at the time, went to law school. He served as an editor of the International Law Journal at the University of Wisconsin and worked as an attorney in corporate securities litigation in New York. It was there, improbably, that he found his voice — in the city's burgeoning indie music scene and the entirely new kind of online journalism forming around it.

Amrit went from attorney to music journalist, becoming Stereogum's first hire and its executive editor. Over eight years he helped build one of the defining voices of the online indie music era — thousands of posts, nearly as many concerts, and an early champion for many of the artists who would go on to shape the culture. He was among the first writers anywhere to spotlight artists like Vampire Weekend — who mailed him a handwritten letter and a homemade blue CD-R before they'd ever received a blog post. He made them a Band To Watch in April 2007.

That world also produced Dosa Hunt — Amrit's short film, born organically from the artists and community around him. Ostensibly a quest for the best dosa in New York City alongside members of Vampire Weekend, Das Racist, Yeasayer, Neon Indian, and Vijay Iyer, it hit as a conversational meditation on authenticity and comfort in a multicultural landscape — tasty and funny, screened at film festivals around the world, and to the praise of the BBC, New York Magazine, Interview, and KCRW. And hosting it was Amrit's biggest step yet toward his life on camera.

TV had been calling as the next stop for Amrit's interviewing and storytelling. When the opportunity came to join a new network called REVOLT TV as a founding host, Amrit entered a five-year crash course in live TV — a daily variety show before a studio audience, red carpets, interviews with thought leaders and artists in all contexts, intimate sit-downs with the likes of Rick Rubin, a live televised town hall with then-presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, political roundtable debate shows, and live coverage from both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 2016. And as ever, all of this was preparation for the next step.

At Spectrum News 1, Amrit anchors election nights and breaking news alongside his daily newscast and nightly interview show, which has become a required stop for candidates, officeholders, and civic leaders across California — and for the writers, filmmakers, musicians, and thinkers who are shaping the national conversation. The work has received awards from the LA Press Club, NY Press Club, and Golden Mikes — for everything from newscasts to on-location series and documentaries. He was also the host of the Spectrum News Challenge, a nationwide current events quiz show with student contestants, and Music Diaries, his limited documentary series exploring the ways music, art, and community reflect and shape each other — a subject he has never been able to leave alone.

Away from the studio, he is a husband, a father, a daily meditator, and a voracious consumer of culture in all its forms — convinced that the interview, done right, is one of the most reliable paths to clarity, empathy, and common ground. That, and a good song.