After the candidate originally selected to fill a much-heralded new “VP of Content” position backed out at the last minute in December, it was back to the old drawing board for Seattle public TV station KCTS.
Now the station has announced that it’s chosen John Lindsay for the job, who was among the original group of finalists interviewed late last year. According to a press release, Lindsay will join KCTS in May to “oversee the expansion of original programming and broaden the scope of the station's interactive and community engagement efforts.”
Lindsay is currently VP for national and international productions at KETC in St. Louis, and has produced or co-produced nearly 300 hours of national primetime public television programming and collected numerous Emmy, Peabody, and duPont-Columbia awards. Lindsay is also no stranger to the Northwest, having spent 14 years at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
"Public media needs to engage the communities it serves. It needs to value traditional journalism and tell compelling stories. And it needs to change with the times,” said Lindsay in the same press release. “It’s clear the people who work for KCTS understand what the organization needs to do for public media to remain relevant. I’m very happy to be joining the team."
Which is not too different from what the last VP said when he was hired. Let’s hope that this time, the guy shows up and sticks around for a while and produces some great local public TV.
