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New directors join KPLU team
August 27, 2008
Construction is progressing steadily on KPLU’s new headquarters on lower campus, the Martin J. Neeb Center, but it isn’t the only change happening at the popular public radio station. It station recently announced two hires in newly created management positions.
Jennifer Strachan was named assistant general manager and director of public media. She begins work Sept. 4. Long-time KPLU program host, producer and former music director Nick Morrison was named production director starting Sept. 2.
In her role, Strachan will lead the station in identifying and using current and emerging technologies outside of radio. This includes expanding the station’s online news distribution capacity and cultivating online communities locally, nationally and internationally.
“Jennifer will help us advance our web presence and lead initiatives to utilize new and developing media platforms,” said KPLU General Manager Paul Stankavich.
A Gig Harbor resident, Strachan has spent 16 years in television and multimedia production and management. Most recently, she served as director of programming and production at Tacoma’s KBTC-TV. There, she helped develop the station’s new media initiatives and enhanced multimedia content for the Web. She also as executive producer for the station’s local documentary series “Full Focus.”
Strachan has a bachelor’s degree in technical journalism from Colorado State University, and studied media and communications at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Meanwhile, as production director, Morrison will oversee KPLU’s producers, writers and on-air staff who create content for the station and its webstream Jazz24. The new position marks a homecoming for Morrison.
He began working at KPLU in 1987, eventually becoming an integral voice on the station and establishing it as one of the premier jazz stations in the world. During his 18 years with KPLU, Morrison received numerous industry awards, including Jazz Radio Person of the Year in 2000 at the Gavin Radio conference.
Morrison left KPLU in 2005 for KWJZ-Seattle, but returned in the fall of 2006 as part-time program host. Since then, he has contributed news commentaries and hosted a number of live performances from the station’s Seattle studios. Morrison will continue to fill in as a program host, and he’ll soon be one of the voices heard on Jazz24.
“When I left KPLU a couple of years ago after working there for 18 years, I sort of felt like I was running away from home to look for treasure,” Morrison said. “Like most folks who do that, I discovered that fortune is fickle and that most often the greatest treasures tend to reside in the home you left behind. I’m glad to be back home.”
University Communications staff writer Megan (Haley) Anderson compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.
In her role, Strachan will lead the station in identifying and using current and emerging technologies outside of radio. This includes expanding the station’s online news distribution capacity and cultivating online communities locally, nationally and internationally.
“Jennifer will help us advance our web presence and lead initiatives to utilize new and developing media platforms,” said KPLU General Manager Paul Stankavich.
A Gig Harbor resident, Strachan has spent 16 years in television and multimedia production and management. Most recently, she served as director of programming and production at Tacoma’s KBTC-TV. There, she helped develop the station’s new media initiatives and enhanced multimedia content for the Web. She also as executive producer for the station’s local documentary series “Full Focus.”
Strachan has a bachelor’s degree in technical journalism from Colorado State University, and studied media and communications at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Meanwhile, as production director, Morrison will oversee KPLU’s producers, writers and on-air staff who create content for the station and its webstream Jazz24. The new position marks a homecoming for Morrison.
He began working at KPLU in 1987, eventually becoming an integral voice on the station and establishing it as one of the premier jazz stations in the world. During his 18 years with KPLU, Morrison received numerous industry awards, including Jazz Radio Person of the Year in 2000 at the Gavin Radio conference.
Morrison left KPLU in 2005 for KWJZ-Seattle, but returned in the fall of 2006 as part-time program host. Since then, he has contributed news commentaries and hosted a number of live performances from the station’s Seattle studios. Morrison will continue to fill in as a program host, and he’ll soon be one of the voices heard on Jazz24.
“When I left KPLU a couple of years ago after working there for 18 years, I sort of felt like I was running away from home to look for treasure,” Morrison said. “Like most folks who do that, I discovered that fortune is fickle and that most often the greatest treasures tend to reside in the home you left behind. I’m glad to be back home.”
University Communications staff writer Megan (Haley) Anderson compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.