Teresa Frontado joined WAMU in Washington, D.C., as executive editor last month.
Frontado is WAMU’s first permanent news leader since 2020. Interim newsroom leaders were Jeffrey Katz, Rachel Sadon and Gabe Bullard, who have all left the station.
Frontado previously worked as executive editor for KUT in Austin, Texas. She has also been digital director for WLRN in Miami and a director for Univision. She has held producer and editor positions for El Nuevo Herald, a newspaper owned by the Miami Herald.
Tom Mara became executive director for the Seattle International Film Festival.
Mara retired as executive director for KEXP in Seattle this year and was succeeded by Ethan Raup. Mara will join SIFF in August.
“Over his 30+ years at KEXP, he demonstrated the ability to grow an organization, affect culture change, and gather a strong, effective team,” said SIFF Board President Diana Knauf in a news release. “He facilitated high-quality work, and financial sustainability set within a strategic and mission-driven framework. We have confidence that he has the vision and skills to accomplish similar goals here at SIFF.”
Content
Maeve Conran was hired as managing editor for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of 18 stations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The position is funded in part by a three-year grant from the Colorado Media Project and RMCR member stations. Conran will be based at Aspen Public Radio and will report to that station’s news director, Brent Gardner-Smith. Conran previously worked as PD for Free Speech TV based in Denver. She was also news director for KGNU in Boulder, Colo.
Ian Dickson was promoted to news editor for KTOO in Juneau, Alaska. Dickson joined the station in 2020 as a part-time web editor. “Huge deal for me but hopefully seamless and invisible for our readers and listeners … Will do my best not to disappoint you, Juneau,” Dickson said on Twitter.
Shirley Jahad became a producer for Here & Now, a nationally distributed program produced by WBUR in Boston. Jahad most recently worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She was also a producer for The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS and was a reporter for Southern California Public Radio and WBEZ and WTTW in Chicago.
Saige Miller announced that she was hired as a politics reporter for KUER in Salt Lake City. “My whole life I’ve been told two things: 1. You look like Drew Barrymore 2. You have a voice for radio. I can now confirm both. I do see the Barrymore resemblance and I’M GOING TO BE ON THE RADIO!” Miller said on Twitter. Miller most recently worked as an innovation lab producer and engagement reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Christian Santana joined New York Public Radio as a copy editor and “newsroom style guru,” according to a news release. Santana previously worked as senior copy editor at Energy Intelligence. He has also contributed album reviews and features for the music website XLR8R.
Jon McDaniel, PD for dance music station C89.5/KHNC in Seattle, will retire Aug. 8 after working at the station for more than 30 years. McDaniel joined the station in 1990.
Communications
Julia Slattery, a spokesperson for WAMU in Washington, D.C., is leaving the station to become a manager of content creation for the Edison Electric Institute. Before WAMU, Slattery worked as communications and media specialist for the National Center for Victims of Crime.
Fellowships
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center selected 10 youth fellows to participate in its By/With/For Youth: Inspiring Next Gen Public Media Audiences initiative. The teen fellows will join a four-month paid fellowship program “to help shape the future of public media,” according to a news release. The fellows are:
- Audrey, a high school junior in Virginia who has an interest in the humanities.
- Faiza, a high school junior in Maryland and co-host for the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs’ On Our Minds podcast.
- Gabby, a high school junior in Philadelphia who has an interest in documentary films.
- Gracie, a high school junior in Wisconsin who is interested in politics and theater.
- Jaden, a student in Massachusetts who is involved in his school’s diversity, equity, inclusion and justice office.
- Jeremiah, a student in Georgia and 2021 PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs Program fellow.
- Mahi, a sophomore in California who plays on the varsity basketball team, founded a sports podcast and participated in KQED’s youth advisory board.
- Rebecca, a student in Virginia who is on her school’s dance team and is teen leader in her B’nai B’rith Youth Organization chapter.
- Remy, a freshman in Tennessee who is interested in journalism, puppetry and academic writing.
- Taylor, a senior in Florida who is interested in social media, technology and linguistics and plans to study computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in the fall.
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