NPR named Pallavi Gogoi acting managing editor–daily report.
Gogoi starts the new role Oct. 17 and will report to Executive Editor Terence Samuel, according to a staff memo. She will work alongside Managing Editors Vickie Walton-James and Gerry Holmes.
Gogoi is now NPR’s chief business editor. Before joining the newsroom in 2017, she was senior editor of markets and the economy for CNN. She previously reported for the Associated Press, USA Today, Business Week magazine and Dow Jones.
Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp will temporarily lead the Business Desk until NPR hires a successor for Pallavi.
Norm Abram retired as master carpenter for This Old House.
Abram, who turned 73 this month, was honored with a one-hour tribute special, The House that Norm Built, highlighting his 43-year tenure with the series. It premiered on PBS stations Oct. 3.
“When I saw a rough cut of it, I got kind of emotional,” Abram said in a story for GBH in Boston, the station where This Old House was created. “I’m happy and I love it that people love what I did.”
Abram joined the series in 1979 after working for his father’s construction company. In 1989 he became host of The New Yankee Workshop, a woodcrafting show that ran for 21 seasons.
Liliana Kim left APM Studios for Spotify.
Kim was named managing director for Parcast, an in-house studio for Spotify. She joined American Public Media in 2019 as managing director of podcasts and was promoted to GM in 2020. APM formed its separate podcast unit, APM Studios, last year. Kim previously worked as VP of international content strategy and brand management for MTV, project manager for HBO and production assistant for NOW with Bill Moyers on PBS.
CapRadio in Sacramento, Calif., hired two hosts.
Chris Campbell will host Morning Edition and succeeds Donna Apidone, who left the station earlier this year. Campbell most recently worked as host of The Progressive Underground, an electronic music program for WDET in Detroit.
Laura West joins CapRadio as a midday host. She previously worked as a news operations manager for the Sacramento-based Educational Media Foundation, owner of Christian radio stations. She also worked for KXTV, an ABC affiliate in Sacramento.
Content
Joe Palca, a science correspondent for NPR, is retiring. Palca’s contributions to NPR were celebrated in a Weekend Edition segment Saturday. “I ask myself, why am I leaving? — ’cause I still love what I do,” he said during the segment. “And I think the answer is it just felt like it was time. And it’s better to leave when people wish you wouldn’t than…wait until the other turns out to be the case.” Palca joined NPR in 1992. He previously worked as a correspondent for the science journals Nature and Science.
Jeff Brady joined NPR’s new Climate Desk. He said on LinkedIn that he’s initially working as an interim editor and will eventually transition to a correspondent role. Brady joined NPR in 2003 and most recently worked for the National Desk, first as a correspondent then as an editor. He has also been a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Tiffany Bentley became PD for The Bridge, a Triple-A music service owned by Buffalo Toronto Public Media. Bentley will be the first PD hired for The Bridge, which launched in November 2021. She previously worked for commercial stations in Buffalo, N.Y., and was also a music programmer for WDIY in Bethlehem, Pa.
Dave Kim was hired as manager of digital content and strategy for WDET in Detroit. Kim most recently worked as digital marketing manager for Michigan Humane and was a marketing specialist of audience development for the Detroit Free Press. He is co-founder of the low-power nonprofit radio station Ferndale Radio in Michigan.
Emily Olson was hired as a liveblog editor and news writer for NPR. Olson previously worked as senior manager of publicity and thought leadership at American Forests, a nonprofit, and was also a digital journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2018, she was an audience relations intern and project manager for NPR.
Tamika Smith was promoted to host of All Things Considered for WAMU in Washington, D.C. Smith, who became interim host of the program following Jonathan Wilson’s departure in June, joined the station in 2014 as a part-time weekend host and later became a weekend news anchor and reporter.
Jerad Walker joined WUNC in Chapel Hill, N.C., as editor of narrative audio and podcasts. “I’ll be based in Durham but have big plans to eat all of the BBQ in the Carolinas,” Walker said on Twitter. He most recently worked as a producer and music director for Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Alejandra Martinez left KERA in Dallas to become an environment reporter for the Texas Tribune. Martinez joined the station in 2020 through Report for America and became the Dallas accountability reporter last year. She previously worked as an associate producer for WLRN in Miami and was also a producer for KUT in Austin, Texas.
Francisco Aviles Pino left their position as an associate producer and reporter for Southern California Public Radio. “I’m honored to have worked with such a brilliant team of journalists and engineers. Editors, show runners & all — hit my line & let’s do some good work,” they said on Twitter. Pino joined the station last year after working as a contributing writer and fixer for The Intercept.
Development
Bia Medious was hired as director of member network engagement of the Institute for Nonprofit News. Medious previously worked as a journalist for City Bureau in Chicago and was a podcast production associate for Chicago Public Media. Medious succeeds Michelle Morgante, who left the INN this year to become editor-in-chief of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.
Communications
Jason Phelps became senior director of corporate communications for PBS. Phelps most recently worked as an advisor and director of national media for Climate Power; he was also deputy communications director for Giffords, a gun control group led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. In another staff change in PBS’ communications unit, Brianna Barker left PBS last month to become director of workforce communications for the Volkswagen Group of America. Barker joined PBS in 2018 as senior director of employee communications. Phelps was originally hired to lead external communications; but, following Barker’s departure, his role expanded to oversee both employee and media relations.
Education
Peter Parker was hired as associate educator for Jazz88, a station owned by Minneapolis Public Schools. He will work on Jazz With Class, a weekday show that helps students gain production experience, and an upcoming streaming program called MPS Voices. Parker previously worked for commercial and nonprofit stations in Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.
Governance
Amanda Mountain, CEO for Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver, was appointed board chair for the Public Television Major Market Group. Mountain, who most recently served as vice chair, succeeds Cascade Public Media CEO Rob Dunlop, who becomes an ex-officio board member as immediate past chair. Amy Shaw, CEO of Nine Network in St. Louis, was named vice chair. In addition, three new board members will serve two-year terms: Arizona PBS GM Adrienne Fairwell; PBS SoCal CEO Andrew Russell; and Sylvia Strobel, CEO of TPT in St. Paul, Minn. The outgoing board members are Lisa Shumate, GM for Houston Public Media; Neal Shapiro, CEO of the WNET Group; and Deborah Acklin, CEO of WQED in Pittsburgh, who left the station last month.
Fellowships
Latif Nasser, co-host for Radiolab, produced by WNYC in New York City, became a science journalist in residence at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Nasser will participate in classes; meet with students, faculty and staff; and tour one of the largest university fusion experiments in the country from Oct. 12 through 14. On Oct. 13 he will join Soren Wheeler, Radiolab’s executive editor and a previous UW–Madison science journalist in residence for a presentation called “How to Hunt for Stories, and Not Kill Them in the Telling.”
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