Comings and goings: Virginia stations choose top execs, Nashville Public Radio hires president…

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Ometer

The first CFO and chief content officer for the Virginia Foundation for Public Media and Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corp. will begin work next month.

The incoming CFO is Gary Ometer, who held the same title at Virginia College Savings Plan, an independent state agency. His earlier experience includes serving as deputy director of finance and administration for the National White Collar Crime Center in Richmond, Va. Ometer has served on Commonwealth’s board.

Steve Humble will be CCO. Humble will oversee all productions for the corporation’s PBS and NPR stations in Richmond, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, branded as Community Idea Stations. Previously, he worked for 19 years at the Martin Agency, a Richmond advertising and marketing firm, rising from VP/executive producer to COO. He has served on the board of directors for both the corporation and foundation.

Humble

The new executives will report to foundation CEO Jayme Swain.

Commonwealth used proceeds from selling spectrum in an FCC auction to establish the foundation in 2017 as its new parent organization.

Steve Swenson begins his tenure as president of Nashville Public Radio Monday.

Swenson most recently worked as SVP and market manager at CBS Radio in Washington, D.C., overseeing six stations. Earlier he was VP and GM of CBS Radio in New York City.

Swenson

“Throughout his career, Swenson has successfully grown diverse formats including Urban, Spanish, Sports, Adult Contemporary and All News,” according to a station announcement.

Swenson succeeds President Rob Gordon, who announced his retirement last fall after 24 years in the position.

Content

ProPublica has promoted veteran journalist Marilyn Thompson to lead its expanding coverage of the federal government. She will oversee a new team of reporters in Washington, D.C. Thompson previously worked as senior editor of ProPublica’s state government reporting project. She spent most of her career at the Washington Post as assistant managing editor of investigations, national editor, deputy national enterprise editor and Sunday editor.

WHYY reporter Bobby Allyn is moving to NPR in Washington, D.C., to cover breaking news and general assignment stories. Earlier he reported at Nashville Public Radio.

Kameel Stanley, a podcast producer at St. Louis Public Radio for three years, is joining USA Today’s podcast The City as senior editor. Kameel was also part of a team for Project Catapult from PRX.

Swarn

Rocky Mountain Public Media in Denver has hired Nikki Swarn as program director of its Urban Alternative hip-hop and R&B format. Swarn will contribute content to KUVO’s HD2 channel The Drop; produce for KOMF, an LPFM operated by Denver’s Open Media Foundation; and help produce art and culture programming for RMPBS TV. Most recently Swarn directed marketing and promotions for radio broadcaster Entercom Denver.  

Reporter Nicholas Pugliese has joined WHYY News to cover South Jersey. He’s worked nearly five years at The Record in West Paterson, N.J. In 2013 he played professional soccer as a center midfielder for the Ferozi Football Club in Kabul, Afghanistan.

KJZZ in Phoenix put together a few highlights from its Sounds of the City program to honor outgoing senior producer Annika Cline. She’s been with the station since 2014.

Holland

Former WFUV overnight host Eric Holland transitioned to evening host and assistant music director this month at the New York City station. “I’m amped, jazzed, and feel extremely fortunate to be taking over the evening host and assistant music director gig,” Holland said. He took over the evening role from Alisa Ali, who moved to the weekday midday slot. He succeeded Carmel Holt, who departed last month, as assistant music director.

Business

Davis

Rebecca Davis, who worked in accounting and administration for 35 years at KUED in Salt Lake City, will retire April 30. Davis was CFO for KUED-TV and KUER-FM for the past 19 years. She’s also a past chair of the Public Media Business Association. Ken Dodson began work last month to succeed Davis with the title of controller. Most recently Dodson was CFO of the nonprofit Ballet West.

Government

The FCC has appointed Milwaukee PBS GM Bohdan Zachary to its Consumer Advisory Committee. Zachary, who testified in December before the commission about educating viewers on the spectrum repack, is the first public TV executive on the 27-member panel.

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