The Future is Now: Meet the Speakers

Looking for inspiration? Hope? Energy? Start your new year off with vision, clarity and community. Join Public Media for All for our 6th annual Day of Action & Education webinar. We're thrilled to announce that the following have leaders from a range of organizations and backgrounds will be sharing their visions for a better public media and the practices they're putting in place now to get us there now.

Steve Bynum

Steve Bynum is the manager of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) for Chicago Public Media, the parent company of WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. He has won numerous awards in broadcast excellence and lectures and moderates discussions on the media’s role in democracy, culture, and communities. He is also a consultant on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in media and the workplace.

He was a senior producer at WBEZ for “Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons.” For nearly two decades, Steve was the senior producer for “Worldview with Jerome McDonnell,” WBEZ’s 25-year global affairs/news program. Steve led “Worldview” through words from a work of ancient Roman playwright Terence: “I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me.” 

His operating principle is that global citizenship is the bulwark to defeat racism in its psychological and structural forms. When he began traveling abroad, Steve realized that, rather than being an ethnic minority, he was part of a global “majority.” Traveling and living abroad expanded his thinking, aspirations, and opportunities. As Steve says, “At that point, racism lost its psychological grip on me and a wall came down.” He wishes for young people of color to see leaving America as an option for realizing their genius, in the tradition of “American Nomads” like Frederick Douglass, Ira Aldridge, Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, and James Baldwin.

Steve is a University of Notre Dame alumnus and attained a Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) degree from Northwestern University. He is completing a Master’s degree in Eastern Orthodox Theology.

Kristin Hall

Kristin Hall is the General Manager of KYUK, the oldest Indigenous-led public radio station in the United States. Based in Bethel, Alaska, KYUK is a bilingual radio and television station that provides essential news, cultural programming, and Yup’ik language content to more than 50 Alaska Native communities across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, a region spanning 75,000 square miles, off the road system in western Alaska.

Since joining the station as a volunteer in 2011 she has supported operations in radio programming, community engagement, and development. Taking on the role of General Manager in September 2025, she now oversees strategic planning, fundraising, advocacy, and operations for one of the most remote and mission-driven public media stations in the country. Her leadership has supported everything from major capital projects and infrastructure expansion to launching KYUK’s first endowment fund in 2021.

KYUK is a multiple-time recipient of regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and earned first place from the Society of Professional Journalists for its comprehensive pandemic coverage— competing against small-market outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The station’s work has been featured by national outlets including NPR, PBS NewsHour, and The Washington Post, underscoring KYUK’s vital role as a trusted source of rural and Indigenous journalism.

Hall is committed to preserving KYUK’s legacy and advancing its mission as a cultural and informational lifeline for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Mollie Kabler

Mollie Kabler is the executive director of CoastAlaska, Inc, a public media collaborative serving Alaskan based stations. She loves living in Sitka and working with Alaskans that care about public media. Mollie earned her bachelor’s degree at Carleton College as a biology major and a Master’s in Public Administration from University of Alaska SE.  Mollie has been active in many facets of the Sitka community including local government, arts administration and local radio. Mollie loves camping, hiking and gardening. Her seasonal radio shows about how to garden in southeast Alaska have been on the air every spring for over 30 years.

Doug Mitchell

Doug is the Founder and Director of "Next Gen Radio," a locally focused and produced digital media skill development program. We are funded by public media stations, colleges, and universities, with additional support from other non-profit and for-profit organizations. Since 2013, Next Gen Radio has more than 526 program alumni from 93 one-week projects working across media, journalism, and communications. 

Doug Mitchell’s role has evolved. While he builds and leads the project staff (they are never the same), he also guides the Next Gen-curated community of nearly 700 people, helping to dissect the nuanced ups and downs of life and work. Next Gen is currently undergoing a slight rebrand for 2026 as we transition to an independent nonprofit entity.

Doug has been awarded four international fellowships. Three were to Santiago, Chile, and with the International Center for Journalists, the US State Department, and Fulbright. The fourth was through an NGO that works with exiled journalists and to Dakar, Senegal.

Joanne Griffith

Joanne Griffith is the chief content officer of American Public Media’s Marketplace, where she oversees the multichannel strategy across broadcast, on demand and digital platforms. She joined Marketplace in 2025 after four years leading podcast editorial for APM Studios. In that time, Joanne developed the framework that led to significant shifts in audience and staff diversity. 

She was the founding managing editor of the California Newsroom, an NPR regional news hub, bringing together 15 stations in the midst of the pandemic. As a documentarian, she was the  lead producer for the ESPN "30 for 30" podcast, "The King of Crenshaw." She has also led teams at Southern California Public Radio, and the BBC. Outside of the office, Joanne supports creators through En(title)d! Leaders, a conversation and coaching space for leaders of color in creative industries. 

The Future is Now: Meet the Speakers

Looking for inspiration? Hope? Energy? Start your new year off with vision, clarity and community. Join Public Media for All for our 6th annual Day of Action & Education webinar. We're thrilled to announce that the following have leaders from a range of organizations and backgrounds will be sharing their visions for a better public media and the practices they're putting in place now to get us there now.

Jim Rademaker

Jim Rademaker has been the General Manager of WGVU Public Media since August 2021. Prior to that he was General Manager of WCMU Public Media at Central Michigan University. He currently serves as the President of the Michigan Association for Public Broadcasters, Chair of the Joint Licensee Affinity Group Coalition (PBS org), and as Vice Chair of the Affinity Group Coalition. 

Jim Rademaker returned to WGVU as General Manager at WGVU Public Media in Grand Rapids, Michigan in August of 2021. His public media career began as a volunteer for WGVU in 2001 as a volunteer auctioneer and on air membership drive host. In 2002 he formally began his public media career as an underwriting representative and worked his way up through the ranks to become Development Manager. In 2016 he left WGVU to become Assistant General Manager and Director of Development and then General Manager at WCMU Public Media. Jim previously served on the PBS Development Advisory Committee the final 2 years as its chair. As well as served on the executive board of the Small Station Association and various NETA committees. Locally he currently serves on the board of the Rotary Club of Grand Rapids and Scouting USA. He has previously served as a board member for the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan, Grand Rapids Civic Theater. His three main passions in public media are; to build WGVU into an organization of impact that goes beyond broadcasting to be a trusted partner with the community where all voices can be heard and people feel they belong; build empowered teams that are solution oriented; and build systems that ensure new generations of talent coming into the system can thrive and we can learn from each other.

Lorena Aguayo-Márquez

Lorena Aguayo-Márquez is the Community Impact Manager at WGVU Public Media and the station’s first Latina leader. A connector, strategist, and storyteller at heart, she brings more than 20 years of experience in community engagement, education, and workforce development. Rooted in storytelling and equity, Lorena leads with purpose, advancing equity, uplifting underrepresented voices, and creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and empowered to thrive.

Daniel Cardenas

As the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Daniel Cardenas (he/him) serves as the main advocate for KPBS’ diversity vision, initiatives, action plan and strategic goals. He serves as a key collaborator between San Diego State University, the San Diego State University Research Foundation, and KPBS. For the past two years, he has been the subject-matter expert and champion for diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging at the station.

Prior to KPBS, Daniel spent over a decade creating equitable education and work environments on university campuses. This includes UC San Diego, UC Davis, as well as Oregon State University where he led recruitment, retention, and culturally affirming programming for students, faculty, and staff. Daniel earned a Master of Education from Oregon State University and his bachelor’s from Sonoma State University.

Daniel is a father, partner, and poet. When not working, he can be found at the park, riding bikes, hiking with his family, or taking in San Diego’s art and hip hop scene.

Ashley Alvarado

Ashley Alvarado became president and CEO of Texas Public Radio in December 2024, bringing more than two decades of experience in journalism.  

During her twelve years at LAist, Ashley led community engagement efforts across a wide range of initiatives, from live events and art installations to responding to thousands of questions from community members. She oversaw teams focused on audience engagement and newsroom experimentation. 

An award-winning journalist and experienced newsroom coach, Ashley has worked with Blue Engine, the Poynter Institute, and the American Press Institute. She has also contributed to leadership programs with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. A former president of Journalism That Matters, Ashley currently serves on the boards of the Online News Association, Greater Public, and the First Amendment Coalition.

Kenya Young

Kenya Young is President and CEO of Louisville Public Media, where she oversees the organization’s strategic vision, operations, and multi-platform content strategy. She brings nearly two decades of experience in public media and journalism.

Previously, she served as Senior Vice President at New York Public Radio, overseeing podcast studios, programming, digital platforms, live events, and audience development.

Kenya’s career began as a journalist and news producer, advancing into leadership roles including Executive Producer of NPR’s flagship programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and Managing Editor leading groundbreaking collaborations connecting public media stations nationwide.

Podcast portfolios over the years have included Up First, Radiolab, The New Yorker Radio Hour, and On the Media, reaching millions of listeners through audience growth and innovation.

Kenya has been a longtime advocate for including underrepresented and underserved voices and communities in newsrooms and storytelling. She is committed to ensuring diverse perspectives are reflected in teams, content, and the audiences public media serves. She is passionate about developing and mentoring the next generation of public media leaders.

Kenya holds a B.A. in American Studies with a minor in Journalism from the University of Notre Dame.

Lost CPB data is a blow to our public service

Many things are being lost with the end of CPB, including the public access to important information that was used to provide some measure of standard accountability in public media as part of Community Service Grant (CSG) reporting. Perhaps this makes sense, as there are no more CSG funds to be distributed, and CPB is focusing on other things as they wind down with limited staff. Yet, given public media’s commitment to reporting, education and transparency, the sudden loss seems a little odd, especially when erasing data from national websites of record has been such a controversial topic this year. 

Why does this matter? 

Back in 2021, Public Media for All did an analysis comparing race and ethnicity data of public media employees to the US population as a whole. This work was possible, because of publicly available CSG reporting data on the CPB website. Our analysis showed that the people working in public media continued to be far less diverse than the communities that they aimed to serve. While this was hardly surprising, it was an important truth to quantify. That’s also why CPB required stations to provide this data in order to qualify for CSG funding. You manage what you measure. 

CSG reporting was far from perfect. CPB oversight was limited, there were no clear goals and no consequences for failure to improve. Still, it provided some transparency, required some management, and therefore created some accountability for stations to employ people, who reflected their communities and the diverse array of human experience in this country. That kind of staffing is essential for a core part of our mission: serving America in part by intentionally  creating content by and for historically marginalized communities.The standardized, publicly accessible data collected longitudinally allowed for easy and deep dive analysis going back many years. Now that CSG funding is gone and with it all demographic reporting requirements, our ability to track our progress as a network towards the dynamic, fair, complex and varied service that the public deserves is in jeopardy. 

Local Accountability

There are many reasons why individual stations should continue to commit to collecting and reporting this data. 

• When done well, annual employee engagement surveys continue to be a vital source for information to increase staff satisfaction, retention and productivity. Including demographic questions in these surveys is easy, and allows for deeper, more nuanced analysis. 

• Regularly reporting these survey results to a governing or community board should be standard practice, and will proactively engage them as station leaders and supporters.

• Many funders request this kind of data as part of their grant application process, so it’s good to have recent numbers readily on hand. 

• Stations can include this data on their website as an act of good faith transparency to their communities. 

Yet, individual stations acting on the honor system, or just best practices, will not give us an easily accessible view of the system as a whole. 

A Lesson from Newsrooms

We do not have to look far to see why national level data is important, and also hard to collect. For decades the journalism industry ran the Newsroom Employment Diversity Survey, but lack of support and declining voluntary participation led to its pause in 2020. Without incentives like funding, it was hard for newsrooms to prioritize this kind of reporting work. However, declining participation does not mean that this industry-wide data analysis isn’t still vital. That’s why the American Press Institute is working to preserve the historical data, and revive the survey with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Funding Implications

Mission and funding go hand in hand. Functionally, they cannot be separated. We need funds to work towards our mission, and a strong mission is necessary to inspire giving. Alex Curley from Semipublic has been leading efforts to save CSG data. Most recently in a piece this week for Current, and also on Substack, he has highlighted how CPB’s reporting has been critical in determining which stations were most at risk from defunding, and where funders could make the most impact. Improving public service must be measured in relation to budgets, investments measured by impact. As public media organizations chart a path forward, it will be critical for them to have national revenue and demographic benchmarks to inform their strategies.

Take Action

Semipublic and State of Local News Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism have requested this data from CPB, and have since been joined by Free Press and Current. Similar to the American Press Institute, they are pledging to keep historical data publicly accessible, and explore options to continue collecting data from across the public media system. They are actively seeking public media leaders and organizations to join in this request of CPB before it’s too late. Reach out to them at contact [at] semipublic.co.

CPB is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, but we can collectively urge them to keep their commitments to public accountability and system-wide data sharing until their end. You can contact CPB via phone, email or direct mail and let them know that you support Semipublic’s records request. 

Finally, we can prepare. If CPB declines to help keep this vital data source publicly available, then other public media organizations and funders should work together to save it. Historical reporting can be salvaged from Internet archives, and we can collectively commit to continuing to gather, report and share this information that is a record of our value, impact and service to everyone in America. 

Public Media for All will continue to track this issue and highlight efforts to ensure that national level data about diversity and revenue in public media is kept accurate and accessible. Stations need these benchmarks to set goals towards our mission to serve all. Most importantly, everyone in this country deserves transparency and accountability from nonprofit media organizations that were founded to support public service, equitable access to education, unbiased reporting, the free exchange of ideas, and our democracy.

6th Annual Day of Action & Education

The Future is Now: visions and practices for a better public media

This is a pivotal moment in the trajectory of public media. The choices we make today will likely define the next chapter of our industry for decades to come. While there has perhaps never been more threats, there's also opportunities to dramatically improve our public service. Forward looking ideas that have been mused upon in previous years are no longer hypothetical, but a real imperative. The future is now. Join Public Media for All for our 6th annual Day of Action & Education webinar. We'll have leaders from a range of organizations and backgrounds share their visions for a better public media and the practices they're putting in place now to get us there.

Thanks to Greater Public for their continued production support.

2026 PMFA Award

We are excited to announce that we’re currently accepting nominations for the annual Public Media for All Award. This honor recognizes public media champions who have had a transformative impact at their station or organization. 

Do you know someone who has made major improvements internally to workplace culture and policies? Or, perhaps someone who's helped reach new, and historically marginalized communities with content that truly serves them? Please take a moment to nominate them. Celebrating the commitment to this work is vital for sustainability and encourages staff, who are often under-recognized for their accomplishments.

PMFA will present its award during the annual Day of Action and Education on January 8th, 2026.

 Nominees meeting the following criteria will be considered:

• Works in public media in the United States in any role.

• Makes outstanding contributions to enhancing internal culture and/or external public service.

• Demonstrates history of excellence and advancement of public media.

• Self-nominations welcome.

Looking for inspiration? Meet last year’s award winner, Doug Mitchell.

Please complete this form by November 21st, 2025. If you have any questions contact us at contact@publicmediaforall.com.