Coonrod hires KTCA's Browne, promotes DeMarco
Originally published in Current, Feb. 2, 1998. In March, CPB's education and programming chief departed and a new v.p. of programming, Katherine Carpenter, was named.
CPB President Robert Coonrod announced his first major hiring decisions during a Jan. 30 [1998] CPB Board meeting in Amelia Island, Fla. The two top members of his executive team will be Cindy Browne, v.p. and station manager of KTCA, Twin Cities, who will join the corporation as executive v.p., and Fred DeMarco, CPB's senior v.p. of system and station development, who is being promoted to the same position.
Both managers "thrive in a dynamic environment and like challenges," Coonrod said. He plans to seek their advice in building a "faster, smarter, better" corporation. Coonrod said he, Browne and DeMarco will divide the operational responsibilties among themselves.
In addition, Coonrod named Kathleen Cox as general counsel and corporate secretary. She has held the job in an acting capacity since last fall.
The corporation also announced grants totalling more than $4 million for 18 television projects. Major series to receive CPB funding include Tell About the South, three programs on literature from the American South; and Broadway! The American Musical, six episodes on the history of Broadway.
Documentary producer named programming vice president at CPB
Originally published in Current, April 6, 1998
Katherine R.R. Carpenter, a veteran public TV producer, is CPB's new v.p. of programming. Carpenter joined the corporation March 23 as a member of President Bob Coonrod's new management team, and will work with new Executive Vice President Cindy Browne on a strategic review of CPB's grant-making process. The review will focus on "CPB's role in stimulating program innovation and creative risk-taking, and its efforts in program planning, piloting and evaluation," according to a CPB news release.
Browne and Carpenter are assuming the programming duties previously held by Carolynn Reid-Wallace, who left CPB in March [earlier story].
Carpenter's career in public TV includes stints as both an independent and station-based producer, working on educational programs and documentaries; she has also produced series and specials for the Discovery Channel, A&E and Fox, among others. Her first independent film, "Spain: Ten Years After," was distributed by PBS in 1986. She also worked on Race to Save the Planet, an Annenberg/CPB series coproduced by WGBH, Boston; and she executive-produced Declarations, the first major series by the Independent Television Service. She worked recently with Granada International Television in the U.K. as a U.S. programming consultant, and with National Audubon Society Productions, where she worked as v.p. between 1987 and 1994.
Education/TV programs chief Reid-Wallace takes leave from CPB
Originally published in Current, March 16, 1998
Carolynn Reid-Wallace, a CPB senior v.p. who raised the profile of education within the corporation under former CPB President Richard Carlson, has taken a leave of absence from her job, and it appears she will not return.
She announced her departure to staffers late in the afternoon of March 6, saying that it was to be her last day. Reid-Wallace did not respond to Current's request for an interview.
Reid-Wallace left CPB just before Cindy Browne, CPB's new executive v.p. with responsibility for programming, arrived from KTCA, Twin Cities.
In an interview with Current, new CPB President Robert Coonrod said Reid-Wallace "is entitled to take some time off and think about what she wants to do."
For the near future at least, Browne will oversee the combined education and programming office that Reid-Wallace headed, and CPB will hire a programming chief to work under her, Coonrod said.
During a March 9 meeting with programming staff, Coonrod said that Reid-Wallace had taken leave and would be doing some consulting work, according to a staffer who attended. "That's the CPB way of saying they're gone."
Former CPB President Richard Carlson recruited Reid-Wallace from the Department of Education in 1993, where she had served as an assistant secretary during the Bush Administration. Her hiring elevated the status of education within the corporation, as she was the first CPB senior v.p. of education. She developed a strategic plan for CPB's education work, and played a central role in establishing the Ready to Learn service. Carlson later consolidated TV programming under her office as well.
A onetime college dean, Reid-Wallace was especially interested in developing a series of dramas based on great American novels.
Reid-Wallace streamlined CPB's process of grant-making and held staffers responsible for their decisions and producers accountable for results, according to a staff member.
She may have seemed a difficult person to outsiders, the staffer acknowledged, because she demanded a lot of justification and documentation in applications. "A lot of people are used to getting a check every year without being held accountable for what they're doing."
Earlier news: Reid-Wallace champions dramatic series American Literary Tradition, 1996.
Related interview: Q&A with CPB President Bob Coonrod.
Web page created April 21, 1998
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