The local Pawnee news anchor who hosts "Ya Heard? with Perd" is Perd Hapley. Played by Jay Jackson, Perd is a television journalist whose stiff delivery and awkwardly obvious statements make him one of the show's recurring comic characters.
Perd's full name is Perderick L. "Perd" Hapley, and he also hosts another Pawnee news program, "The Final Word With Perd." His signature style uses tautologies and unnecessarily repetitive introductions, such as announcing that a person is "a different person" or that a statement is a question.
The character is a parody of sensational local television journalism and its tendency to turn ordinary events into scandals. Perd is easy to confuse with other Pawnee media figures, including newspaper reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep and talk-show host Joan Callamezzo. Buddy Wood is another reporter, but he is not the host of Perd's program.