Former Style editor Jason Roop is City Council's new host
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Jason Roop. Image: Courtesy of Jason Roop
Richmond City Council meetings have a host for the first time in more than five years.
Driving the news: Jason Roop, the former Style Weekly editor-turned PR and marketing strategist, took over the mic as of last week.
- The job had been vacant since Dick Harman signed off at the end of 2018 after 30 years and around 700 council meetings.
The host is basically like a sportscaster, but for the bi-weekly city council meetings that air on WCVW and stream online.
- VPM hired him for the part-time gig.
- "I think my role there is to cut through all the clutter … and pull out the interesting and important bits," he tells Axios.
And he's well trained for the job. As a former reporter and editor who covered Richmond for more than two decades, Roop has context for many of the issues still in play today — and a healthy dose of any reporter's greatest tool: curiosity.
- "I have lots of questions," he tells Axios, about the meals tax debacle and Diamond District progress, to name two.
- Plus, he's watched as the news industry has shrunk and coverage of local government meetings has dwindled along with it.
But mostly, he's just excited about the public service element of helping locals navigate what some might think of as boring government meetings.
- "It's the best TV show in Richmond! It really is! There's drama, there's power struggles, there's comedy," he tells Axios.
And he'll help us follow along though them all. Catch Roop on VPM Plus at 5:45pm pre-council meetings and briefly after they wrap.
- He might just Instagram them live, too.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to note that city council meetings air on WCVW, not WCVE.