Klein College of Media and Communication alum Lindsey Granger navigated the media industry for years through uncertain times to become co-host of prominent national morning show, The Hill’s Rising, in August 2025. 

Lindsey Granger’s interest in broadcast journalism began at age 5, after her parents gave her a video camera, which she would set up to interview her neighbors. Throughout high school, she was fascinated by storytelling, using video to capture family gatherings that she could revisit and reflect on. 

Today, Granger, KLN ’09, is co-host of The Hill’s Rising, a national weekday morning show based in Washington, D.C., that tackles politics and pop culture. She stepped into the role in August 2025, marking a major step in her career, for it was the show’s first-time airing on broadcast television on DC News Now.  

She also co-owns a multimedia production company, Gilded Focus Productions, which has developed content for BuzzFeed, USA Today, Elle Magazine, Revolt TV and a variety of other outlets.  

It has been a journey for Granger, and it has not always been easy.  

Sold on Temple immediately   

In high school, the North Babylon, New York, native researched broadcast journalism programs to hone her craft. She was immediately sold on Temple after visiting its student news set, which she described as “a real working broadcast space that offers students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a professional newsroom.”  

For the next four years, she gained hands-on experience through the university’s student-run media outlets, including Temple University Television (TUTV) and The Temple News as she earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast, telecommunications and mass media. The student experience at Temple allowed her to take on various newsroom roles, learning how to produce a newscast from start to finish. She interned at NBC10 Philadelphia, learning from industry professionals such as Chris Blackman, former vice president of news of the television station, who now serves as director of career services at the Klein College of Media and Communication. 

“I was fascinated that I could work with and be around an actual news set and see what that world was like firsthand on a college campus,” she said. “Temple really changed my life—not just the classes, but the opportunity to get involved in the city itself and have access to a major media market like Philadelphia and learn from people who went on to do amazing things in the industry.”  

The moment that changed everything   

In the summer of 2009, after graduating from Temple, Granger initially struggled to break into the media industry after applying to several positions. Her turning point came when she signed up for a three-month fellowship with the International Radio and Television Society, which connected her with industry executives to land an internship at MSNBC in Manhattan. She approached the internship with urgency, offering to volunteer for assignments, stay late and help reporters wherever needed.  

“That fellowship changed my life completely,” said Granger. “I knew it would be a foot in the door, so when I made it to MSNBC, I just hit the ground running.”  

Determined to build her reel, she met Tom Llamas, current host of NBC Nightly News, who gave her a shot to assist and coordinate interviews for a story assignment. By the end of the night, he gave her the opportunity to step in front of the camera and deliver her own stand-up footage of the story. She also worked in Philadelphia with Kristen Welker, current host of NBC’s Meet the Press, who gave her similar on-camera opportunities. 

Granger’s persistence earned her the role of field producer at MSNBC for political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry in 2011. She also contributed as an associate video producer for the network’s show Andrea Mitchell Reports while working on projects with national broadcast journalist and talk show host Tamron Hall, KLN ’92.  

As Granger continued to build her career, she said the multimedia training she received at Temple became increasingly valuable. She became a reporter for NBC’s TheGrio, a platform highlighting underrepresented communities. Her strong demo reel landed her first on-air role as a solo multimedia news journalist for Verizon Fios 1 News in New York on weekends. 

“Temple prepared me to handle the pressures of tight deadlines and how to be a versatile reporter that can do any role in the newsroom,” said Granger. “At Fios, I was a one-man band journalist where I had to research, write, shoot, edit and produce my own news stories, which I learned from my experience at TUTV.” 

Expanding her career in Los Angeles  

After establishing herself at MSNBC and Fios, Granger left New York to expand her career in Los Angeles, where she joined Revolt TV, a then-startup cable television network, as an entertainment supervising producer in 2014. 

In one of her most memorable projects at Revolt, she produced a day-in-the-life profile piece on NBA superstar Kevin Durant around his 2016 free agency decision, whether to leave or remain with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tasked with leading the production, she built and managed a local crew and helped execute the shoot in Oklahoma City, including filming at Durant’s home and restaurant. Remarkably, she moved the project from ideation and pitch to realization in just a few weeks, a process that could typically take up to a year at major networks.  

“It was my first time with the supervising producer responsibility, so it was like being thrown into a pool and learning how to swim,” said Granger. “Seeing it come to fruition, standing in the edit bay as we got back to Los Angeles and turned two hours of footage into a 30-minute piece of content that people would consume on this brand-new music channel, was a beautiful thing to see as a startup.”  

A breakthrough on-air  

During the summer of 2016, Granger felt the urge to get back on-air. She stepped into a national correspondent role for the television show The List, where she spent three years covering pop culture and lifestyle stories. That visibility led to a hosting role on Daily Blast Live, a daily news and entertainment talk show based in Denver. Her on-air presence soon caught the attention of ABC’s The View, where she was invited to guest-host for several months on one of the nation’s most prominent daytime talk shows in 2022.  

For the next year and a half, she stepped away from on-air work to focus solely on expanding her storytelling content production company, Gilded Focus Productions. During that time, she was approached by a former executive producer of The View, who invited her to be a guest on Chris Cuomo’s primetime show, CUOMO on NewsNation. She became a recurring on-air guest on the network, serving as a special projects host and fill-in host for its political show, The Hill’s Rising. In August 2025, she was named as a full-time co-host on Rising.  

“I think about how tired I was some of those days working two jobs, and how many times I was at the brink of giving up, and all the challenges that come with pursuing your dreams so rigorously,” she said.  

As Granger’s career continues to evolve, she reflects on how being part of organizations such as the Temple Association of Black Journalists (TABJ) expanded her perspective and prepared her to break into the media industry. She also credits Temple for giving her the opportunity to study journalism abroad in London, where she interned with Merrill Lynch in its corporate communications department. 

“There was so much that I learned career-wise from Temple, from my classes and studying abroad to being a part of TABJ, that changed my life completely and opened up my mindset,” Granger said. “Going to Temple really was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.”