Susan Carpenter

Susan Carpenter is co-host of The Ride, a series about modern mobility on the Southern California Public Radio station KPCC-FM. In broadcast radio segments and a weekly podcast, she reports on everything from autonomous cars and ride sharing to motorcycles, bicycles and public transit. Before joining KPCC, Carpenter was the car and motorcycle critic for the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. She is also known for operating two illegal pirate-radio stations and writing about unconventional adventures for the women's magazine Jane which she undertook in order to experience them firsthand. A University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate, Carpenter was working as a legal secretary in San Francisco, California, in 1995, when she began pseudonymously running an illegal all-music pirate-radio station, which she named "KPBJ", after the sandwich.