Travis Wright

Travis Wright talks to strangers. Maybe it’s his Viking roots, but the man is an ice-breaker personified. He says it’s because he moved around a bunch as a kid (but maybe it’s more of a compulsion of curiosity). When he’s not enraptured in a conversation, it’s because he’s listening to a song. Or watching the Pistons.

Wright’s an award-winning writer, broadcaster and photographer who’s covered Detroit’s vast music, arts and culture scenes professionally since 2006 (before that, he was doing “field research” at Wayne State University, where he earned a Bachelors of Arts in English).

He left print in mid-2011 to join WDET as a reporter and anchor of All Things Considered. He guided listeners through local, state and national elections, as well as sports, storms and national tragedies. But it was Wright’s interviews with artists, musicians, chefs and other creatives that lead to WDET’s “Culture City,” which premiered in January 2014.

Two years later, an evolution.

Wright co-hosts WDET’s Culture Shift, which he describes as “The realization of a dream every English major raised by Subaru station-wagon-driving, mandolin-playing, Cohen-Brothers-movie-quoting parents has dreamt.”

Don’t call him a Millennial. Or do ... but be prepared.