Jim Russell to Head New Program Development for American Public Media

January 21, 2005

Jim Russell to Head New Program Development for American Public Media

(St. Paul, MN and Los Angeles, CA) — American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio today announced that Jim Russell will become Senior Vice President and General Manager of New Program Development for American Public Media, the national program production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio.

Jim is one of the most respected journalists and producers in public radio. In 1988, he invented Marketplace, which has grown to become the country's most popular business program on radio or television. In 2001, he created and is currently Executive Producer of American Public Media's new Weekend America broadcast service.

In this new role, Jim will oversee all new national program development by American Public Media, including the current development of Weekend America. With the assistance of his colleagues — Bill Buzenberg, Sarah Lutman and J.J. Yore — Jim will articulate and implement American Public Media's vision for new program development and assist in the design, development and staffing of all new national programs.

"We're pleased that Jim has accepted this important new strategic leadership position for American Public Media," said Jon McTaggart, Chief Operating Officer. "This new position emphasizes the importance of new program creation for our future. Jim's leadership will help us focus our new program investments and accelerate our activity."

Before creating Marketplace, Jim was the Station Director of two Twin Cities public television stations and came to Minnesota from National Public Radio in Washington, where he had worked since NPR went on the air in 1971 as one of the networkís first reporters, and later as a Producer and Executive Producer of All Things Considered. He also worked in commercial radio and as a foreign correspondent in Vietnam and Cambodia. He is the winner of the duPont Columbia, Peabody, Ohio State, Headliner and numerous other awards, and is profiled in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who in the West.

Jim has expressed eagerness to begin his new role, saying it will allow him to spend most of his time doing what he loves — creating exciting new programming — and applying his unique perspective, extensive talents and management skills to the process.

Weekend America is funded in part by a major grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in collaboration with public radio content partners WBUR Boston, WCPN Cleveland, WMFE Orlando, KUOW Seattle, KPCC Los Angeles, KNOW St. Paul and the Association for Independents in Radio.

American Public Media(tm) is the nation's second-biggest producer of public radio programs, reaching 13.5 million listeners nationwide each week. National programs include A Prairie Home Companion®, Saint Paul Sunday®, Marketplace®, Sound Money®, The Splendid Table®, Being™ and special reports produced by its national documentary unit, American RadioWorks®. American Public Media is the national production and distribution division of Minnesota Public Radio®. Minnesota Public Radio, along with its sister company Southern California Public Radio, belongs to a larger family of companies within American Public Media Group, a national nonprofit organization whose purpose is to develop resources, services and systems to support public media for public service. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at www.americanpublicmedia.us.