FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 13, 2009
Contact: Radio Bilingüe-LA Public Media Service:
310-815-4373, info@lapublicmedia.org
Radio Bilingüe Names Nicole A. Childers
Chief Content Officer for New LA Public Media Service
Childers to Head Team to Create a New Model
For the Next Generation of Public Media
Los Angeles, California—Radio Bilingüe (RB), the California-based Latino public media network, today named Nicole A. Childers as the founding Chief Content Officer for its new L.A. Public Media Service. The English-language service will be aimed toward a young, diverse and underserved audience in Los Angeles with an initial focus on the largest demographic group, Latinos. Childers will spearhead a team developing and testing multimedia content that resonates with this audience under a major grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
“I am proud and excited that Nicole Childers will join us and lead the development of this historic new effort in public media,” said Hugo Morales, founder and executive director of Radio Bilingüe. “We are in the midst of a cultural and media paradigm shift in this country and Nicole is one of those writing the story. She is a world-class journalist, an African-American who counts Latinos and Anglos in her family journey, and a leader with a deep sensitivity and drive to serve diverse audiences. She brings a tremendous level of experience in radio, digital and television news production—most recently proven in her work to pioneer programming to underserved audiences as Executive Producer of NPR’s News and Notes.”
Childers joins Project Director Max Benavidez as part of the LA-based leadership team. “Nicole and Max join myself, Maria Eraña, RB’s director of broadcasting, Samuel Orozco, RB’s director of national news and information, and others we will soon identify as we produce the next generation of public media,” said Morales.
"Radio Bilingüe has been at the forefront of creating public radio programming that has reached out and engaged Latino audiences nationally,” said Childers, “and I couldn't be more thrilled with this opportunity to join this team. As a Southern California native who has worked in public radio for nearly half a decade, I've observed tremendous opportunities and potential to grow and expand the public media audience among Latinos and other underserved populations here in the Los Angeles area. Much of the L.A. market remains untapped and hungry for the kinds of diverse coverage across the multimedia spectrum that we will develop with this very important service."
Childers is an Emmy award-winning journalist and freelance news media manager and social media consultant based in Los Angeles, California. She joined ABC News in 1999 and went on to serve as an Associate Producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. In 2004, she served as a producer for the launch of ABC News' digital channel, ABC News Now. In addition to her public broadcasting experience as Executive Producer of NPR's African-American-oriented News & Notes, she also consulted earlier this year on the launch of a new daily program with Michael Eric Dyson for public radio. Childers has received numerous awards, including two Emmys, a George Foster Peabody award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award, a Los Angeles Press Club Award, three National Association of Black Journalist awards, and two Edward R. Murrow awards. Childers also serves on the Board of Directors of Uplift, an L.A. based organization that works with teen boys in foster care. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
About the L.A. Public Media Service
The new multimedia service will be based in Los Angeles directed to an ethnically diverse and underserved 25-40 year-old demographic. Radio Bilingüe (RB), the nation’s largest provider and distributor of Latino public radio programming, is managing the effort with funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.
During the coming weeks, the project leadership expects to begin hiring the remainder of the senior content production team and will commission a national media research firm to help design, test, and develop the content. In addition, the project will begin its marketing, branding, community engagement and fundraising efforts in preparation for the launch of the service in 2010.
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