VP of Content

Description

Want to shape the future of public media? 

Louisville Public Media is seeking a Vice President of Content to lead our growing local news and music operations, grow on-demand audio and digital-first content, and help us reach the public radio audience of the future. 

LPM operates three public radio stations: 89.3 WFPL, an NPR news station with a robust local newsroom; 90.5 WUOL, a classical music station; and 91.9 WFPK, a contemporary music station. Our newsroom includes the Peabody Award-winning Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) and the Ohio Valley ReSource (OVR), a regional newsroom that covers Appalachia.

As LPM’s first-ever VPC, you’ll head up a group of dedicated journalistic and music leaders whose teams serve our city with local, regional, national and investigative news; a vast spectrum of music new and old; and classical music that pushes beyond the tropes of the genre. You’ll work across departments — including with our VP of Digital and Membership team — to ensure we’re meeting people where they are. You’ll report to the President and have editorial autonomy and a wide creative range in decision-making. And you’ll focus on equity and inclusivity in all we do — both in your day-to-day at LPM and in how we serve our community. 

We’re looking for a VPC with journalism in their past and/or present, who adheres to the highest editorial ethics and standards and can lead our news teams with the confidence of their experience. We’re looking for someone who knows not just what music stations do but how they enrich the human experience and why they’re critical to civic life. We want a leader with an open ear who is clear in their decisions and expectations, who’s firm and supportive of their team, who is self-reflective and constantly learning. We are seeking a VPC with the drive to help us grow and serve current and future audiences.

Envisioning yourself in this role? Please read on. 

Civic News

The VPC will work with LPM news leadership to ensure our local news coverage informs, inspires and empowers people on all platforms to engage with their community. 

At 89.3 WFPL, we run toward the news, meet the pace of the news cycle with clear direction and let our curiosity push past headlines and talking points. We care as much about why news happens as how it does. We believe local journalism should illuminate complex issues, hold power to account and connect audiences with civic life. We believe local journalism should be transparent and independent. And we believe local journalism should represent the communities it serves, both in coverage and staff.

We’re in the process of expanding our newsroom, covering new-to-us beats that include race and equity, and business and development. You’ll help us connect our expanded coverage with audiences that haven’t traditionally been welcomed by public radio, including Black and Latinx listeners and readers. 

At KyCIR, we produce investigative journalism that affects our community and our commonwealth. Our six-person investigative team takes seriously its mission to protect society’s most vulnerable citizens, expose wrongdoing and hold leaders accountable. We dig for truth without fear or favor, measure our work by its impact and spark public conversation.

And at OVR, our seven-station collaborative covering the Appalachian region, we tell the human stories behind the region’s economy, energy, environment, food, health and infrastructure. Our work recognizes that dramatic changes to the region’s traditional economic base are intertwined with social and cultural challenges. By analyzing these challenges and focusing on creative responses, the ReSource aims to help communities rethink their use of resources in a shifting economy.

Music

The VPC will oversee and work with the program directors at 90.5 WUOL and 91.9 WFPK to help ensure our music stations are reaching and representing the best of what our city has to offer, connecting listeners with the relaxation and stimulation they need to balance their lives, and working to grow and diversify our listeners. We want to be the first choice for curious, adventurous music-lovers, sharing music and art with new and more diverse audiences. 

At 90.5 WUOL, we believe music can help us process, but it doesn't absolve us from action. WUOL strives to represent the diversity in our communities in an inclusive and equitable way, and be a place to pause and reflect on the world around us, to get away from the noise and stress of the day. It is a sonic escape that will also open your mind. 

You’ll work with the Program Director and WUOL team to ensure we’re living up to that mission, to engage new audiences with classical music and education, and to push classical into new civic spaces.

At 91.9 WFPK, we use music to bring people together. We use music to inspire. We use music to help people heal and find balance in their daily lives. Music enriches civic life, deepens the human experience and transcends entire civilizations. As a triple-A station, WFPK strives every day to share and showcase a wide range of music, new and old, local and international, reflecting the human experience.

You’ll work with the Program Director and WFPK team to help us connect with new, more diverse audiences on the radio and online, and to help ensure we’re showing up in the community where and when we need to. 

Podcasts

Our storytelling and music need to be anywhere people are, so we’ve grown our podcasting and on-demand audio operations in recent years to meet the needs of our community. 

We make our own podcasts, including a daily local news briefing, investigative deep-dives, our weekly talk show, and “Race Unwrapped,” which dives into conversations about race and identity. We distribute podcasts made by people in our community. And we recently created a podcast incubator, where we work with creators to make their ideas a reality — with a focus on creators of races and gender identities that have been historically marginalized. 

You’ll supervise and work with our Director of Podcasts and Special Projects to explore and grow our use of the form, so we’re serving listeners where they are while pushing the boundaries of what we think on-demand audio can — and should — do. 

Why Louisville?

We are Kentucky’s biggest city. We’re also a small town. We are the hometown of The Greatest, and we believe in our own greatness. We are a city with a long history of powerful journalism. We have a thriving music scene. We love and patronize the arts. 

We are a city built on the middle class that is grappling with an uncertain future. We’re underachievers. We’re overachievers. We’re entrepreneurs, makers and creators. We have been here for generations, and we are new here.

We are a place where systemic racism, which has festered here for generations, is finally out in the open, confronted in our streets, city council and corporate boardrooms. 

Louisville is a dynamic city with a proud, challenging history and a bright future. Its public media organization both reflects that and challenges it. 

If this is you, send a cover letter, resume, and three professional references to resume@louisvillepublicmedia.org. Please specify that you’re applying for “VP of Content’’ when submitting your application. In your cover letter, please tell us what you think the biggest opportunity is for public media to grow in the next three years. 

We recognize candidates might not fit every qualification. If that’s you, we encourage you to apply regardless.

Requirements