Award-Winning Journalist Hired To Lead Texas Station Collaborative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 21, 2016
KERA Hires Rachel Osier Lindley as Statewide Coordinating Editor
DALLAS/FORT WORTH – Rachel Osier Lindley, award-winning News Director of WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., has been hired as Statewide Coordinating Editor for the Texas Station Collaborative — a first-of-its-kind public radio initiative created to expand and enhance news coverage of Texas. In this new role — to be based at KERA, the public broadcasting station in North Texas — Lindley will connect with newsrooms across Texas to plan and produce collaborative news coverage and projects, daily statewide newscasts, content for the public radio newsmagazine Texas Standard and national coverage for NPR and other outlets.
The Texas Station Collaborative is a unique and innovative partnership led by KERA in North Texas, KUT in Austin, Houston Public Media and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. Funded by a two-year, $750,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Collaborative is a major source of statewide news and a platform to share Texas stories across the country and around the world. Texas Standard, the daily hour-long newsmagazine based at KUT and co-produced by the four Collaborative stations, has more than doubled its radio audience to 400,000 listeners statewide since its launch last year, and is now carried by 26 public radio stations across Texas. Additionally, the four Collaborative stations co-produce daily statewide newscasts and are working on ambitious, coordinated political coverage this summer and fall, leading up to the November elections.
As the statewide coordinating editor based at KERA, Lindley will maximize the reach of this high-quality journalism by serving as a leader and a liaison between the Collaborative stations and national and international news outlets such as NPR, American Public Media and the BBC. In addition to streamlining communications, Lindley also will work with Texas Standard on the planning, production and placement of content from newsrooms statewide.
Lindley joins KERA and the Texas Station Collaborative with notable public media experience, as news director for WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., and before that for Marfa Public Radio/West Texas Public Radio. “Rachel’s built a national reputation as a collaborative leader in public media,” says Rick Holter, KERA’s vice president of news. “She helped relaunch the five-station Southern Education Desk, and she’s a board member of Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI).”
Lindley also has a passion for Texas – she received undergraduate and graduate degrees in the state. “I think what really excites us,” says Holter, “is how deeply she knows and loves Texas. That’s going to make her a great first leader for the Collaborative.”
For her part, Lindley says, “This is chance to shape a journalistic project as big and ambitious as Texas. Plus, I’m excited to once again work with some of the state’s greatest storytellers.”
ABOUT RACHEL OSIER LINDLEY
Rachel Osier Lindley holds an MBA from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, as well as a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, Lindley received News Manager Training & Certification from Public Radio News Directors Inc. in 2015 and is currently a PRNDI board member. Previously, Lindley has served as news director for WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., where she established the station as a statewide journalistic force in Alabama. Lindley also served as news director at Marfa Public Radio/West Texas Public Radio, where she played an essential role in building the station from the ground up. Lindley was recently named “Best Reporter” in radio by the Alabama Associated Press Media Editors.
ABOUT THE TEXAS STATION COLLABORATIVE
The Texas Station Collaborative, funded by a two-year, $750,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is a partnership among lead station KERA in North Texas, KUT in Austin, Houston Public Media and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio to produce daily statewide newscasts and more Texas-focused stories for national and international news outlets. The stations also work together to produce Texas Standard, a daily newsmagazine based out of KUT’s studios that reaches 400,000 listeners statewide and is broadcast on 26 Texas stations.
ABOUT KERA
KERA is a not-for-profit public media organization reaching the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States through KERA-TV, KERA WORLD, KERA 90.1 and the Triple-A music station KXT 91.7 FM. For over 50 years, North Texans have turned to KERA as a vibrant destination for community engagement and lifelong learning. KERA produces original multimedia content, carries the best in national and international public television and radio programs, and provides online resources at www.kera.org.
ABOUT KUT
KUT 90.5, Austin’s NPR station, delivers in-depth stories by and about people in Austin, for Austin, with the highest journalistic standards from a variety of thoughtful perspectives. A founding member of NPR, KUT News has won more than 100 state, national and international awards for journalistic excellence. Texas Standard, KUT’s one-hour daily news program heard on 23 public radio stations across the state, offers crisp, up-to-the-moment coverage of politics, lifestyle, the environment, technology, innovation and business — from a Texas perspective.
ABOUT TEXAS PUBLIC RADIO
Texas Public Radio (TPR) is a listener-supported, nonprofit broadcaster serving communities in San Antonio, South Central Texas, the Texas Hill Country, the Highland Lakes area, the Texas Big Country and the greater Del Rio area. Its stations include KPAC 88.3 FM, broadcasting a 24-hour classical music format to San Antonio and surrounding communities and KSTX 89.1 FM, San Antonio’s NPR affiliate and a premier source for in-depth news. In the Texas Hill Country, KTXI 90.1 FM, broadcasts the best of Texas Public Radio’s news and classical music formats, while KVHL 91.7 covers the Highland Lakes area, featuring news and information programs. KTPR 89.9 FM delivers public radio to the Texas Big Country, covering much of Scurry County, including Snyder and Colorado City. And KTPD 89.3 FM, covering Val Verde and Kinney counties, broadcasts the best of Texas Public Radio’s news and classical music formats. More information is available at www.tpr.org
ABOUT HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
Houston Public Media is home to TV 8 and radio stations News 88.7 and Classical 91.7. Its broadcast and digital resources bring the residents of Southeast Texas a specially curated mix of trusted local news and entertainment along with exceptional national programming from NPR and PBS. Houston Public Media is a public service from the University of Houston, its license holder, and is supported with financial gifts to the Houston Public Media Foundation. With a combined weekly audience of more than 1.5 million, Houston Public Media is committed to delivering content that expands minds and possibilities with trusted information. Connect on Facebook at facebook.com/houstonpublicmedia and Twitter at twitter.com/HoustonPubMedia.
###
CONTACT:
Andy Canales
Manager, Marketing Communications
KERA, KXT and Art&Seek
214-740-9236
