For immediate release
November 11, 1998
NPR Announces New President and CEO
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Washington, DC � The Board of Directors of National Public Radio® (NPR®) announced today its selection of veteran journalist and international media executive Kevin Klose as the next President and Chief Executive Officer of NPR, effective in mid-December. Klose, 58, a former editor and correspondent at The Washington Post, is currently Director of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), the U.S. global, non-military radio and television system.
"Kevin Klose brings to NPR his proven leadership in public affairs broadcasting, his strong commitment to journalistic excellence and his wide experience as a correspondent, editor and media executive," said NPR Board Chairman Kim Hodgson. "He has a keen understanding of the technological and economic forces that are changing the environment in which public radio operates, and of the unique role our member stations play in bringing great radio programming to communities throughout the country."
"It is an honor to join NPR's team of broadcasters, whose record of excellence in news, current affairs and cultural programming is unrivaled in America," said Klose. "I cherish this opportunity to work with this extraordinary group of broadcasters, member stations and the NPR Board to shape the future for
public radio."
NPR Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Peter Jablow has been in charge of NPR as Acting President and CEO since Delano Lewis' resignation in August. Jablow will resume his post as Executive Vice President and COO when Klose arrives at NPR.
Klose has led the IBB since April 1997, responsible for the Voice of America, Worldnet Television and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and broadcast support for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
"It is very difficult to leave the Bureau, the oversight board, and the staffs just at the moment broadcasting has achieved the status of a separate federal agency," Klose said. "But the work that must be done to implement independence is in good hands under the chairmanship of Marc B. Nathanson, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors."
Broadcasting Board chairman Nathanson said, "It is a distinguished opportunity for Kevin � hard for us to lose him, but so positive for NPR and its mission. He will do a tremendous job for NPR."
Before joining IBB, Klose was president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a private, non-profit multi-national radio news organization that broadcasts to Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.
A veteran reporter and editor at The Washington Post, Klose was Moscow Bureau Chief (1977-81), Midwest correspondent (1983-87) and Deputy National Editor (1987-91) during his 25-year career there.
He is the author of Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society, an account of life in the Soviet Union that won the Overseas Press Club's Cornelius Ryan Award (1985).
A graduate of Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, Klose served two years in the U.S. Navy. He was born in Toronto and grew up in Red Hook, New York. His parents, Woody and Virginia Taylor Klose, were radio producers and writers during the Golden Age of Radio in the 1930s and 1940s.
Renowned for its journalistic excellence and providing standard-setting news, information and cultural programming, NPR serves a growing audience of 13 million Americans each week on 604 member stations. NPR also distributes programs to radio, satellite and cable listeners in Europe, Asia and Africa via NPR Worldwide, to military installations overseas via American Forces Network, and throughout Japan via the USEN 440 cable service. NPR can be accessed online at www.npr.org.
