Jeff Bieri is retiring Dec. 31 as station manager of KRCC in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Bieri joined the station, which is owned by Colorado College and operated by Colorado Public Radio, in 1989 as a volunteer music host. He went on to host local broadcasts of Morning Edition, All Things Considered and the music show Air Check. He also worked as music director. Bieri was promoted to station manager in 2020.
“As KRCC came into the CPR family of services, Jeff was the key connector and ambassador to elevate our service to Colorado Springs and to share the stories of southern Colorado across the state,” said CPR CEO Stewart Vanderwilt in a news release. “His voice and presence will be missed, and he leaves a lasting legacy at the station.”
Barton Girdwood was promoted to supervising producer of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute.
Girdwood has worked as senior producer on the show since 2022, when he guided its transition from founding host Sam Sanders to Brittany Luse.
Girdwood joined NPR in 2015 as an intern for TED Radio Hour and has also been assistant producer of Up First and Morning Edition. As lead producer for the NPR Politics Podcast, Girdwood transitioned the show from biweekly to daily while covering the 2018 midterm and 2020 presidential elections.
Nikki Swarn left her position as GM of Rocky Mountain Public Media’s radio stations in Denver.
Swarn has worked within RMPM since 2019. She launched The Drop, an urban alternative station, in 2019. In 2022, she took on management of KUVO, RMPM’s jazz station. Swarn now works as executive director of her own company, Therapy Thursday, according to her LinkedIn page. She’s also worked in marketing for several commercial radio stations in Denver.
Management
Laura Kieler was promoted to deputy GM of PBS North Carolina. Kieler joined the network in 2018 as director of marketing and communications and most recently worked as both CMO and CCO. She previously worked as director of marketing for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. She also held several marketing positions for HBO between 2007–2017.
Content
Greg Bryant, host of Evening Jazz, The Get Down and The Late Set for WRTI in Philadelphia, is leaving the station at the end of the month. Bryant, who is relocating to California, joined the music station in 2022. He wrote “Play It Forward,” a monthly column for the station’s website that highlights new artist releases. Before WRTI, Bryant hosted Jazz After Hours and Jazz United for WBGO in Newark, N.J., and Real Jazz on SiriusXM. “We are grateful for Greg’s contributions and look forward to seeing him thrive on his next exciting mission as a jazz messenger,” said Josh Jackson, WRTI’s associate GM for content and programming, in a news release.
Aspen Public Radio in Colorado hired Lucy Peterson as a reporter for its news partnership with the Aspen Daily News. Peterson, who joined the Aspen Daily News in September, will now appear on Aspen Public Radio newscasts. In a news release, Aspen Public Radio Executive Director Breeze Richardson said, “It’s more efficient for her to bring that expertise to our Aspen Public Radio local newscasts, opposed to us hiring someone full-time to duplicate that work.”
Fellowships
The Association of Health Care Journalists named two public media reporters as 2025 International Health Study fellows who will investigate health-care approaches in Europe and the U.S. The public media journalists receiving fellowships are: Karen Brown, health reporter for New England Public Media in Springfield, Mass.; and Drew Hawkins, health equity reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom, a CPB-supported collaboration among Mississippi Public Broadcasting; WWNO in New Orleans; WBHM in Birmingham, Ala.; and WRKF in Baton Rouge, La. Brown will report on how Norway and the United Kingdom have developed mental health guardrails to reduce gambling addiction. Hawkins will investigate what Southern U.S. states can learn from the Netherlands’ approach to opioid use disorder treatment. The fellows will continue in their current jobs during the fellowship period and receive customized seminars, mentoring and financial support for field reporting. Projects will be completed by mid-2025.
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