Kendall Todd

Content manager, GBH Music

WGBH Educational Foundation

Age: 30

In three words: Creative, strategic, analytical

What colleagues say: Kendall Todd is a major creative and strategic force behind the success of GBH Music. Her largest impact has been transforming GBH Music’s digital presence. Her ability to manage multiple projects — balancing creative vision with analytical strategy — has made her indispensable.

Early in her tenure, Kendall played a key role in WCRB’s Bernstein Centennial Celebration, leading to a relaunch of the radio station’s website on a new domain, Classical.org. She recently spearheaded the rebranding of the GBH Music YouTube channel and prioritized vertical video. Her leadership in digital content growth is evident in CRB’s “The Note,” which she launched and grew into one of GBH’s best-performing newsletters.

Kendall also directs over 25 WCRB broadcasts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra annually and regularly interviews musicians for audio features. She recently showcased her fresh approach to storytelling while producing a WCRB In Concert broadcast of the Boston Early Music Festival spotlighting women composers.

What Kendall says

Decision to work in public media: I started in 2016 as a part-time fill-in host and production assistant for Boston’s classical music radio station, WCRB, about two weeks after graduating from college. After working on the student paper and taking a couple of classes on radio production, my dream was to write radio scripts for NPR. Working for CRB, which is owned by GBH, seemed like a very good way to get my foot in the door. The focus on classical music was a lucky bonus, as I had played classical violin all my life!

As it turned out, I loved working with people who love music, but I didn’t love hosting live radio. Instead, I took on projects that let me flex my writing muscles. I found niches to fill in our team’s digital content areas. I’ve been getting my hands in as many different pies as I can ever since.

Key accomplishments: I feel accomplished every time I interview an artist I love, like violinist Augustin Hadelich, or work on a concert broadcast. Directing our live Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcasts from Symphony Hall each Saturday night is a high point of my week. I’m also very proud to write and manage CRB’s weekly email newsletter “The Note,” which I pitched and created in 2019. After recently relaunching GBH Music’s YouTube channel, I am working now on building a catalog of concert videos there.

Inspired by: My GBH Music colleagues are some of the smartest, most creative people I’ve ever known. I regularly come away from our casual conversations with a bunch of new ideas. Additionally, I find music itself very inspiring! In the media landscape today, it’s rare to find the time and space to really feel something in the same way that classical music allows.

Advice for young public media professionals: For people who are just beginning their public media careers: Try on as many hats as you possibly can. A lot of teams in public media are quite small, which means that everyone does a lot of different jobs. Ask for opportunities to get involved in any project that interests you, even if it’s not listed in your job description.

Advice for public media leaders: Ask younger and newer colleagues for their opinions — on anything from workplace culture to content strategies. I’ve always valued opportunities to share my thoughts and really respect colleagues who have asked to hear them. Now, as a content manager with one direct report, I find that hearing their thoughts helps me clarify my own, and often reveals new solutions I hadn’t seen before.

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