Joanne Griffith will serve as the first managing editor of a collaboration to boost reporting from California. Led by KQED in San Francisco, the partnership with NPR also includes KPBS in San Diego, CapRadio in Sacramento, KPCC/LAist in Pasadena and KCRW in Santa Monica.
Griffith was most recently assistant managing editor of Marketplace. She has also been an editor and producer at KPCC and a producer for NPR and has held several positions for BBC.
Griffith will work out of KPCC’s offices and start with a focus on election coverage. “California is at the heart of so many stories of national interest: immigration, technology, the environment, housing,” she said in an NPR release. “So the opportunity to work collaboratively with stations across the state to tackle these themes and more is one I’m very much looking forward to, especially during an election year.”
Four of the five stations are already working together through the California Dream journalism collaboration, a CPB-backed project. The hub is the second such collaboration in the country, joining the Texas Newsroom, which launched last year and produces six live statewide newscasts each weekday.
Mary Anne Alhadeff will become the executive director of the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership at Texas Woman’s University.
Alhadeff recently left her position as president of KERA in Dallas. She has also worked for New Hampshire PBS, KCTA (now Twin Cities PBS) and KCTS (now Cascade Public Media).
“The institute was created to help women achieve success in business and public service, and when I saw the extraordinary programs they provide to students and to women entrepreneurs, I became very excited,” Alhadeff told Current about her new job. “So excited that I decided to postpone retirement.”
Management
Wally Smith has been named GM emeritus of WPPB-FM in Southampton, N.Y., after its sale last month to WNET in New York City. WNET is searching for a new GM, according to a WNET spokesperson. “We see the marriage of these stations as an important step in securing the future of public broadcasting for the Long Island community,” said Neal Shapiro, President and CEO of WNET. “We are grateful to WPPB General Manager Wally Smith, who helped build the station into a beacon for the community and whose guidance we’ll continue to count on.”
Dalton Delan, former EVP and chief TV programmer at WETA in Washington, D.C., was appointed managing director and chief content officer of One Mind All Media, a broadcast and digital content group focused on health issues. One Mind, its parent company, conducts brain health research. Delan left WETA in September after more than 21 years with the station.
Development
Rachelle Anderson has joined WUCF in Orlando, Fla., as director of development. Her first day was Jan. 31. Anderson previously worked for Idaho Public Television as a grant writer and corporate sponsorship representative. She also worked for PBS Utah as a community outreach manager and an assistant membership manager.
Content
Kyra Kyles was appointed CEO of YR Media, a nonprofit focused on young journalists and musicians. Her first day was Saturday. Kyles is replacing president and chief content creator Ellin O’Leary, who is retiring and will remain as an advisor. Kyles previously worked as editor-in-chief and SVP of digital editorial at Ebony Media Operations. She has also worked for the Chicago Tribune.
Julia Ritchey was hired as a news reporter and producer at North Country Public Radio in Canton, N.Y. Her first day was Monday. She previously worked for KUER in Salt Lake City as a senior editor and political reporter. She has also worked for Reno Public Radio, Voice of America and the Savannah Morning News.
Katie Moritz will be an associate producer for MPR News starting Feb. 18. She previously worked as a senior editor and a production assistant with Twin Cities PBS. She was also a state government reporter for the Juneau Empire in Alaska and a producer for KBIA in Columbia, Mo.
Governance
New leaders and members were elected to the board of America’s Public Television Stations. They include Molly Phillips, ED and GM of Iowa PBS, who was elected board chair; Jefferi Lee, GM of WHUT in Washington, D.C., professional vice chair; and Carol Kellermann, lay trustee of Thirteen/WNET in New York, elected lay vice chair. The newly elected trustees are: DeAnne Hamilton, ED and GM of KBTC Public Television in Tacoma, Wash.; Laura Hunter, station manager and COO of Utah Education Network/KUEN in Salt Lake City; Dax Schieffer, board chair of Friends of MontanaPBS in Bozeman, Mont.; and Dolores Sukhdeo, president and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami. Leo A. Brooks Jr., a VP of enterprise subsidiary integration and government operations for Boeing, was elected as an at-large trustee. Kathy Rae, a board member of KPBS in San Diego, and Andrew Russell, president and CEO of PBS SoCal KCET in Los Angeles, were re-elected. Officers and trustees will be sworn in later this month.
Leadership
The Poynter Institute selected three public and nonprofit media workers for its sixth annual Leadership Academy for Women in Media, the first of three classes that will be held this year. Twenty-nine media professionals in total were chosen. The nonprofit and public media staffers are Carmel Delshad, an editor and reporter for WAMU in Washington, D.C.; Salina Sanchez, senior business and administration manager for Hechinger Report in New York City; and Natasha Vicens, an interactive and design editor for PublicSource in Pittsburgh. The class will visit Poynter’s campus in St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb. 23–28.
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