Comings and goings: Rhode Island public media group hires chief revenue officer, Baltimore Public Media names chief of content …

Richard Popovic was named chief revenue officer at Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio, which merged last year.

Popovic most recently worked as executive director of the Catholic Foundation of Rhode Island. He’s also been associate dean of development at the University of Rhode Island Foundation’s college of pharmacy, where he led a $9.5 million fundraising campaign.

“Rich brings a deep understanding of Rhode Island’s philanthropic landscape, a long track record of delivering transformational fundraising results, and trusted relationships across sectors that will be invaluable to our mission,” CEO Pam Johnston said in a news release. “I believe Rich will be a transformative addition to our team.”

“The work of public media to report the news, hold power to account, and uplift the stories of people and organizations doing great work in service of others has never been more important,” Popovic said in the release. “It’s an honor to help sustain this storytelling and advance our mission of reaching more people in more ways, and I look forward to engaging our community of supporters at this critical moment for public media.”

Baltimore Public Media, which operates WYPR and the music station WTMD, announced changes to its content leadership team.

Danyell Irby was promoted to chief of content. Irby joined the organization as executive editor of news in 2020 and also oversaw the pandemic-focused podcast The Daily Dose. Irby has also been a senior editor for Marketplace and worked at NPR in several roles between 1998–2016, including as senior supervising producer and supervising editor.

As part of the change, Jonathan Blakley was named PD for WTMD and WYPR and reports to Irby. Blakley joined Baltimore Public Media in 2023 as interim CCO and was also CCO. His previous public media jobs include interim content director for WAMU in Washington, D.C.; executive director of radio programming for KQED in San Francisco; PD for Minnesota Public Radio News; and a senior producer for NPR.

Tyler Laporte, who was working as interim PD for WYPR, will return to his role as assistant PD and host for WTMD. Laporte first joined WTMD in 2007 and has worked as an intern, host, programming assistant and music director. He left in 2013 to work for co-sign, an artist development agency, and returned in 2022.

Kyle Leslie, director of digital media, now reports directly to the office of the president “to ensure alignment with overall strategy and growth to new audiences,” according to a news release. “This realignment marks a critical step forward in unifying news and programming under one strategic vision — ensuring that WTMD and WYPR remain powerful, responsive, and relevant platforms for storytelling, music discovery, and civic dialogue.” Leslie joined WYPR 2006. 

Sara Roth was named executive editor of digital programming for Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Roth most recently worked as senior editor of digital of TEGNA’s fact-checking team Verify, which faced layoffs in February. She’s also been digital director KREM, a CBS affiliate in Spokane, Wash., and a producer and reporter for KGW, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Ore.

“I wanted my next position to be in nonprofit media and I couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to land than at this organization in this role,” Roth said on LinkedIn. “OPB’s clear mission and commitment to public good is exactly what our region needs right now.”

Development

Shane Guiter, founder and CEO of the public media consultancy Public Works, was named VP of philanthropy for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Guitar previously worked as VP of development strategies for PBS, COO for Kansas City PBS and director of development for Austin PBS in Texas. “For the first time in 20 years, I won’t be working in public media,” Guitar said in an email to Current. “But it’s a role that will allow me to build capacity for local news, so it’s a good fit.”

Content

Elizabeth Arakelian was promoted to director of radio of KVPR in Fresno, Calif. Arakelian joined the station in 2021 as host of All Things Considered and was also Morning Edition host. She will continue to lead the station’s local news podcast Central Valley Daily. She previously worked as senior public information officer for University of California at Merced. She was also a program research analyst for CNBC and was a journalist for the Turlock Journal in California.

PBS Reno in Nevada hired Dillon Beckwith and Joshua Fuss as content creators. Beckwith previously worked as director and associate producer for Los Angeles-based Building Block Entertainment Inc.. Fuss previously worked as director of photography for West Coast Customs, also in Los Angeles. “I’m looking forward to working with both Josh and Dillon, who are a tremendous addition to the PBS Reno content team,” said Dave Santina, director of local content in a news release. “Their skills are a wonderful complement to those we already have in-house and they bring us back to full strength as we take on the wide variety of work ahead of us.”

Nash Jones,  a general assignment reporter for New Mexico PBS, was named  host and reporter for New Mexico in Focus, the state network’s weekly public affairs television series. Jones succeeds Vic Vela, who joined the program last year. Jones previously hosted Morning Edition and All Things Considered for KUNM in Albuquerque, N.M., where they also worked as a reporter. “Nash will help deliver on our commitment to tackle complex community issues while presenting audiences with independent, objective news and meaningful analysis across platforms,” said NMPBS CEO Franz Joachim in a news release.

Send news of “comings and goings” to people@current.org