Kent State public radio station, WKSU, hires new executive director

Kent State’s NPR-affiliated radio station, WKSU, is getting a new executive director and general manager from Chicago.
Wendy Turner, vice president of digital and technical operations at Chicago Public Media starts her new job at WKSU on Oct. 31, the university announced Monday.
Turner was hired following a national search, the university said. She succeeds Dan Skinner, who left in October 2015 as WKSU’s executive director and general manager to join Kansas Public Radio and Audio-Reader.
Turner will be responsible for planning and directing activities related to a public radio network operation, and overseeing personnel administration and professional development of WKSU’s 34-person staff.
Turner also will establish department goals, objectives and strategies; develop and implement programs and activities to accomplish goals; foster the station’s position in the marketplace; improve station operations; support and oversee WKSU’s development effort; identify, cultivate and solicit prospects; and oversee preparation and submission of grant applications, the university said.
She will report to Kent State’s vice president for university relations and serve on the senior staff of the vice president.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to bring Wendy Turner to this important leadership role, which is a tribute to the performance and potential of WKSU,” Kent State President Beverly Warren said in a statement. “She has spent her entire career leading innovation and building partnerships at some of public radio’s most successful stations, a record that fits perfectly with our vision for the future of WKSU and Kent State University.”
Turner said she is delighted to join WKSU.
“There is such enthusiasm, commitment and clarity of mission from the WKSU team,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to building on the strong foundation of a beloved station and to advance its position as a valuable community resource bringing news, ideas, culture and compelling conversations to the region.”
She joined Chicago Public Media in 2000. Following a series of promotions, she currently leads the technology and infrastructure teams there.
She started her public media career at Minnesota Public Radio in 1994. Turner was named a “Woman To Watch” in 2008 by Crain’s Chicago Business, and in 2009, she received a Power Up Award from Street-Level Youth Media.
Turner was 20 years old when she founded Children’s Castle Theater, a community children’s theater, in Farmington, Minn.
Turner has a bachelor degree in theater from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Turner and her husband, David, will relocate to the Kent area from Chicago.