John Goberman has produced more than 200 live national telecasts since launching the PBS performance series more than three decades ago.
Goberman was cited by Symphony Magazine as one of the 50 most important individuals making a difference in American music. He pioneered the video and audio technology by which concerts, opera, ballets and plays could be telecast during live performances without disruption of performers and audiences. His television work has garnered 13 national Emmy Awards, three Peabodys and the first Television Critics Circle Award for Achievement in Music.
Goberman plans to focus on producing another type of performance that he helped to pioneer — “Symphonic Cinema,” in which orchestral scores are performed live to the films for which they were originally commissioned.
He also plans to stage concert galas and video presentations across the country.
Live From Lincoln Center continues in its 37th season on PBS this fall.
Maria Hinojosa, veteran public media journalist and president of the Futuro Media Group, is presenting this year’s prestigious Ware Lecture on June 23 during the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Justice General Assembly in Phoenix.
The lecture has been a highlight of the annual meeting of Unitarians since 1920. Hinojosa’s speech, “Stories from the Frontlines of the New America: Detention, Deportation and the Power of Democratic Resistance,” will focus on the detention and deportation of immigrants, both legal and illegal, the association said.
The association cited Hinojosa’s two decades as host of NPR’s Latino USA in selecting her as this year’s lecturer, but she has contributed to several public TV programs as well. She was senior correspondent on Frontline’s “Lost in Detention,” an investigation of immigration enforcement that aired on PBS last fall; hosted One-on-One, an interview-based TV series produced by Boston’s WGBH that ended its five-season run last year; and was senior correspondent for NOW on PBS, the newsmagazine that went off the air in 2010.
Former Ware Lecturers include the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in 1986 and social activist Julian Bond in 2003.
Don McGee is the new host of Mixed Bag at New York’s WFUV-FM, succeeding legendary FM rock DJ Pete Fornatale, who died in April.
McGee had been the primary guest-host for the show, as well as a fill-in host for WFUV on weekday mornings. He began working with Fornatale in the late 1980s as a producer of his Saturday Morning Sixties show on WNEW, the New York rock station where Fornatale launched his professional broadcasting career and first produced Mixed Bag. The show has aired on WFUV since 2001. General Manager Chuck Singleton described McGee as the obvious choice to take over. “As Pete Fornatale’s former producer and frequent substitute, Don has been primed for this role. . . . I know Don will honor Pete’s great legacy and take the show in his own unique directions.”
Programming
The host of Vermont Public Radio’s Jazz with George Thomas is stepping away from the mic after more than 11 years, retiring from VPR at the end of June. “It has been an honor and I am grateful to have been able to share jazz with VPR’s avid, curious and astute listeners, who often suggested artists, songs and albums to play,” Thomas said. The show airs weeknights beginning at 9 p.m., but VPR is reconsidering how to program the timeslot. Jazz music “will continue to have a presence in the VPR programming lineup, but the details have yet to be finalized,” the station said.
American Public Television has hired David Rubinsohn as director of syndication and pledge programming. He’ll identify, review and create programs to be syndicated to local pubTV stations. Previously, Rubinsohn worked as director of public TV sales for DLT Entertainment, an international production and distribution firm; vice president of programming and distribution at New York’s WLIW; and director of programming and sales for pledge producer T.J. Lubinsky’s TJL Productions in Pittsburgh. Rubinsohn spent 17 years at Philadelphia’s WHYY, where he directed television broadcasting, and was named Programmer of the Year by the Public Television Programmers Association. Rubinsohn replaces Andrea Hanson, who retired from APT in November 2011.
Fred Vigeant began his work as director of programming and on-air promotion for dual licensee WITF in Harrisburg, Pa., on June 25. He oversees both television and radio content. Formerly Vigeant worked in a variety of roles, including operations manager and on-air host, at WRVO-FM in Oswego, N.Y. Vigeant has also served as an adjunct professor at SUNY Oswego, teaching broadcast copywriting. For several years he supervised the school’s academic radio lab, instructing students on using audio production equipment.
New England Public Radio in Amherst, Mass., has selected permanent local hosts for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Jill Kaufman will handle the morning duties; she has been news director at the station since 2005. Before that, she was an editor at PRI’s The World, and a culture desk reporter at WGBH in Boston. Susan Kaplan will continue anchoring local broadcasts of ATC, a job she’s held on a temporary basis. Kaplan has been a reporter and host at WFCR since 1995. Her stories have aired nationally on ME, ATC, On the Media, Only A Game and PRI’s The World.
Management
KOTO-FM (“Radio Almost Like the Professionals”), a community radio station in Telluride, Colo., hired Beth Lamberson Warren as interim executive director, to bolster its fundraising efforts. She’ll be with the station for six months, through Dec. 1, replacing former Executive Director Steve Kennedy, who left in April. Warren has been in pubradio for 20 years as the executive director of Four Corners Public Radio, KSUT in Ignacio, Colo., and development director at KNAU-Arizona Public Radio. She has also provided fundraising and management assistance to stations in Gallup, N.M., and Cortez, Colo.
Sydney White, radio projects manager at CPB, is the new WMNF-FM station manager in Tampa, Fla. White has more than three decades experience in public media, including stations project manager and marketing and station relations for NPR; director of marketing and development at WHMM-TV (now WHUT) in Washington, D.C.; and producer and host for community radio station WPFW-FM, also in Washington. White assumed his duties in Tampa on June 18.
Sponsorship/fundraising
KPLU-FM, KING-FM and Market Enginuity have hired Bob Nordberg as director of sponsorship sales at the stations serving Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. Previously he was general sales manager for KNBQ/KFNK/KHHO (Clear Channel Seattle), which expanded to include KJR-FM in 2009. Prior to that, Nordberg was the station manager for Radio Disney, and also spent 12 years with Seattle alt-rock station KISW.
Michael Kulaw is now media sales executive at WUSF Public Media in Tampa, Fla. Kulaw will work from the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus to manage sales and develop business partnerships in Sarasota and Manatee counties for WUSF Public Media, including Classical WSMR 89.1, WUSF 89.7 and WUSF TV. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in electronic advertising, with a focus on multimedia platforms. Previous employers include Comcast Spotlight in Sarasota, Fla., where he was an account executive.
Vince Gardino, New York Public Radio’s executive director of underwriting for 14 years, has left the station to become executive director of the American Classical Orchestra, which performs music from the 17th to 19th centuries using authentic period instruments. His last day with the New York station was June 8. He signs on with the orchestra July 2. For 12 years, Gardino served as chair of the PMDMC Heritage Group, a best-practices working group of corporate support leaders of major market stations. He represented public radio and the Radio Research Consortium in contract negotiations with Arbitron for Portable People Meter ratings data, and recently was appointed as pubradio’s representative on the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council. “His consistent focus and hands-on style with the clients and sales team helped propel revenue growth through both robust and challenging financial landscapes,” the station said in a statement.
Sponsorship Group for Public Television has hired Marc Lehner as managing director of sponsorship sales. Lehner previously served as a regional sales manager at Gannett Broadcasting, in Portland, Maine, managing sales efforts in top media markets including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Lehner also worked as local sales manager at WHDH-TV, an NBC/CW station in Boston. The Sponsorship Group represents national program inventory from WGBH in Boston.
Development
Former public television marketer Loren Waldron has been promoted to vice president, business development services, at the global public relations firm MWW. She joined MWW in 2005 and worked in management across the company’s new business development, marketing and creative units. Prior to joining MWW, she was in the marketing department of the now-defunct Public Television National Productions, a sponsorship sales firm that represented several midsize stations.
Marketing/communications
Kay Summers has left WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C., after six years as director of marketing and communications to raise her children full-time. No word yet on her replacement.
Governance
Former FCC Chair Reed Hundt has joined the board of directors of ASSIA Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.–based provider of software tools for spectrum management of DSL networks. John Cioffi, ASSIA c.e.o., said Hundt “has always been an advocate for easy access, high performance, healthy competition and affordability in the worldwide information and communications technologies sector, which is perfectly aligned with ASSIA’s mission.” Hundt was FCC chair 1993–97.
Andy Schwartz, new executive director of the Public Media Business Association, has announced re-election of two board members. Madison Hodges, g.m. of WQCS-FM in Fort Pierce, Fla.; and Chuck Keefe, director of compliance at WGBH, will serve three-year terms. Kevin Martin, CPB’s v.p. of station grants and television station initiatives, will serve as an ex-officio member. Prior to taking over PMBA, Schwartz had led the association’s recent rebranding efforts while a vice president at public relations firm Coulter Nonprofit Management. His appointment was announced at the PMBA conference, May 29–June 1 in Las Vegas.