"From the veteran members to our newest hires, Mike established a strong rapport with each of them. I think one would be hard pressed to find a more immediate and long-lasting way to improve their news operation than working with Mike Marcotte."-- Jonathan Ahl, Iowa Public Radio Network********************************Michael Marcotte is an advocate for strong local news. Mike has been in public radio since 1978 -- when he held his first air shift on college radio station WUOG. While there he became news and public affairs director. He also began his own radio theater series. Mike's masters thesis researched 40 years of Peabody Award entries to note trends in radio public service. Mike worked in commercial radio from 1982 to 1984 at WGAU/WNGC in Athens, Georgia. He intentionally pursued a career in public radio news -- taking his first full-time gig at WOSU in Columbus in 1984. As news director of KPLU, Seattle-Tacoma, Mike built up a strong local news department by hiring strong reporters, emphasizing aggressive regional coverage, and developing a beat system for in-depth reporting. KPLU was named Best News Operation in the Pacific Northwest by the Society of Professional Journalists. After 8 years in the Northwest, Mike joined all-news station KPBS, San Diego, in 1995. Mike again grew a local news department -- only this time it would be linked to a television station and deliver joint programming. He also marshalled the newsroom into the digital age -- including its role in a sophisticated website. KPBS became recognized among the leading local news stations in the NPR system. While in San Diego, Mike was graduated from LEAD San Diego, served on the board of APTRA, and led an annual summer boot camp for minority journalism students. At KPBS, he also hosted a weekly television program, Full Focus. And he directed and helped establish the Jacobs Project for Reporting Excellence, a new media laboratory. Mike was elected national president of PRNDI (Public Radio News Directors Inc) in 2006. Along the way, Mike taught broadcast journalism at four universities-- including three years on the journalism school faculty of Ohio State University. Michael now consults from his base in Santa Barbara. | NOW PUBLISHED!
The Public Radio News Directors Guide The first and only handbook for news managers in public broadcasting
A project by NPR's Local News Initiativeand Public Radio News Directors, Inc
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