SMC Selects Assistant General Manager to Succeed Ruth Seymour at Its Renowned Public Radio Station

Santa Monica College is pleased to announce that Jennifer Ferro, who currently serves as Assistant General Manager of public radio station KCRW 89.9 FM and www.KCRW.com, has been named the new General Manager of the renowned station.

The SMC Board of Trustees today (Feb. 20) approved the selection of Ferro, who begins in her new position March 1. Ferro succeeds Ruth Seymour, who is retiring Feb. 26 after running KCRW for 32 years and building it into a powerhouse National Public Radio affiliate with a global audience.

"Jennifer epitomizes the perfect mix of traditional public radio experience, and the strategic and creative new media thinking that will be critical to KCRW's continued success in the years ahead," said SMC President Dr. Chui L. Tsang.

SMC holds KCRW's license and was responsible for the search to find Seymour's replacement.

Ferro has worked in all areas of the station's operations, including programming, marketing, new media, technology development and fundraising since joining the KCRW staff in 1994.

She first came to the station as a volunteer arts reporter in 1991. Ferro's independent spirit impressed Seymour, who hired her as an assistant. She was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 1997.

"I'm thrilled to be able to get the opportunity to lead the best public radio station in the country and I'm excited to work with the station's incredible staff on the challenges and opportunities in front of us. It's a dream job," Ferro said.

"Jennifer is an ideal choice to lead the station forward," said outgoing manager Ruth Seymour. "She brings her own unique approach and vision to KCRW. She's innovative, courageous and independent. She's an experienced programmer, producer and fundraiser. She will make a terrific manager and I look forward to a KCRW under her leadership."

Ferro is the executive director of some of the station's most popular programs, including "Good Food with Evan Kleiman," and "DnA: Design and Architecture with Frances Anderton." "Good Food" is the station's highest-grossing one-hour program during pledge drives.

Ferro is also leading the station in working with SMC to build a new facility for KCRW, which will be integrated into the college's Academy of Entertainment & Technology campus. The new facility, which recently won a creativity award from the Urban Land Institute, is scheduled for completion by 2013.

In addition to creating a plan to improve on-air fundraising tactics, Ferro spearheaded a change in KCRW's online strategy that includes its three live Internet radio channels, successful iPhone apps, active blogs, original content features, and social media strategies.

Ferro is also known in the broader sphere of public radio. She serves as a Board Member for the Development Exchange, Inc., the public radio industry's fundraising, revenue and marketing organization. She's also appeared as a panelist about public radio at numerous new media and broadcasting conferences.

Ferro is married and is the mother of two daughters, 7 and 9. She is a soccer player as well as an AYSO youth soccer coach.

KCRW 89.9 FM, licensed to Santa Monica College, is National Public Radio's flagship station for Southern California. The Santa Monica-based nonprofit represents cutting-edge radio at its best, presenting an eclectic mix of independent music, news, talk and arts programming. The terrestrial signal serves Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, as well as parts of San Diego, San Bernardino, Kern and Santa Barbara counties and the greater Palm Springs area. KCRW's programming is internationally renowned and available worldwide via KCRW.com, including three streaming channels, 27 podcasts and archives of locally produced programs and live band performances. KCRW music can be heard online, all the time, on the ALL music stream Eclectic24.

Santa Monica College, founded in 1929, is a public two-year community college accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and by many professional accrediting organizations. It is a leader among the state's 110 community colleges in transferring students to public and private four-year universities inside and outside California. SMC is also a major job training center in such fields as nursing, computer technology, new media, accounting, photography and graphic design. It is also known for its performing arts center, specifically The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College, a 499-seat theater that brings top-notch music, dance and drama to the community and serves as a performance venue for student productions and other events.

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