News Director

KGNU SEEKS A NEWS DIRECTOR
Posted 10/5/2020

Job Title: News Director
Department: News Department
Reports To: Station Manager
FLSA Status: Exempt
Hours: FULL TIME, may include early mornings, evenings, weekends or flexible hours
Positions Supervised: Digital News Producer, Bilingual Equity Reporter, volunteer news and public affairs producers, news department interns
Location: Based in Boulder, CO
Travel: Limited Regional, Frequent Local

Position Summary
The KGNU News Director is a dynamic, energetic, creative, team-oriented and talented individual responsible for leading KGNU's award-winning News Department. The News Director is responsible for overseeing the editorial agenda, overall direction, and day-to-day operations of the KGNU News Department. The News Director must excel in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented, collaborative environment.

The ideal candidate is a superb journalist and experienced manager with superior organizational skills and high journalistic standards who brings an inspiring, social and racial equity-centered editorial vision that will address local news and information gaps with the skills to implement a strategy to achieve it. Our newsroom prioritizes community relevance and engagement.

The News Director leads KGNU's daily local news coverage across all platforms: radio, podcast, web, social media, and multimedia. The News Director will drive the daily reporting with a combination of energy and calm, creativity and consistency. The News Director will ensure that news coverage and public affairs programming reflect the highest standards of journalistic ethics, audio production, and public service to the KGNU audience and the communities we serve.

The News Director manages our small but mighty team of staff reporters and producers; while providing journalistic guidance, coordination, training and management of our volunteer reporters, producers, hosts and interns.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities Include (but may not be limited to):
Management:

• Supervising and managing all news department employees, volunteers and interns
• Coordinating with the digital news producer on selecting stories to be published at news.kgnu.org.
• Working closely with the bilingual equity reporter on selection of news stories and as an editor.
• Maintain efficiency in the workflow and distribution of journalism within the News Dept.
• Submission of news content to annual competitions (SPJ, PMJA, CBA, etc.)
• Tracking and Submission of all FCC required filings related to the News Department: quarterly issues, political files, donor reports (for sponsored or grant funded programs), etc.
• Submit monthly/quarterly/annual reports as requested by the Station Manager
• Work with Development staff on grants/grant reporting related to news department.
• Maintain inventory & sign-out of all news production equipment for staff, volunteers and interns.

Production:

• Maintain the utmost Editorial Integrity across the News Department
• Produce and host the Morning Magazine (daily weekday mornings).
• Produce and occasionally host other news and public affairs shows as needed.
• Produce daily digital news content, including news features & interviews for KGNUs digital platforms
• Coordinate and provide consistent up-to-the-minute emergency news coverage on air and for digital platforms when needed.
• Coordinate and determine priority programs for Podcast production and distribution
• Oversee and schedule news content during membership drives:
  • Edit Democracy Now! 7-8am Mon-Fri to allow for pitch breaks.
  • Be main on-air pitcher (with partner) during DN and morning magazine and occasionally A Public Affair/Alternative Radio/ITE.
  • Schedule special news programs to air in news shows (including arranging special thank you gifts related to those shows.)
  • Coordinate and train news volunteer fund drive pitchers.
• Election Coverage:
  • Coordinate and schedule coverage of elections with a focus on hosting debates with local candidates and local issues.
  • Coordinate and produce election night and post election coverage.

Programming:

• Schedule pre-produced & syndicated news shows to play through the automation system
• Monitor events of national and international importance, liaising with the Station Manager and programming staff on any warranted preemption of regular programs.
• Develop and maintain KGNU online News and Public Affairs presence
• Review all News and Public Affairs show proposals
• Participate in the KGNU Program Committee:
  • Evaluate news shows and communicate feedback to volunteer producers.
  • Find, develop, recommend News Programming
  • Develop recommendations on any changes to the overall News and Public Affairs program schedule.

Volunteers/ Interns:

• Recruit, train and work with the volunteer/intern headline writers/readers in selecting daily news stories to be included in local headlines and edit the copy before going on air.
• Schedule and oversee news volunteers in producing all locally produced news and public affairs programs, including offering editorial input to continually improve overall content.
• Schedule all news board operator and anchor shifts, including early morning anchors, afternoon anchors and Sunday afternoon anchors.
• Train volunteers that produce local news content as well as volunteers that anchor early morning, afternoon and Sunday afternoon syndicated news shows.
• Maintain an active intern program through local colleges and universities (CU, MSU, etc) serving as direct supervisor for all news interns.
• Communicate and implement on-air and station policies to news volunteers and personnel.

Strategic News Partnerships and Community Engagement:

• Work with local organizations to develop relevant reporting partnerships
• Participate and represent the news department on local and regional collaborations including Rocky Mountain Community Radio Coalition and COLab
• Host, moderate, and participate on panel discussions on a myriad of topics in the community as requested and deemed of strategic relevance.
• Host community engagement opportunities to gain insight on community information needs
• Represent the KGNU News Department with integrity, respect and the highest standards

Additional duties may be assigned by the Station Manager.

The Qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or ability required.
Required Qualifications:

• Minimum 5 years of related newsroom experience (reporting, editorial, production)
• Minimum 3 years experience in broadcast media production (producing, hosting, reporting, editing)
• Extraordinary interviewing skills, with positive, inquisitive and personable presence
• Superb verbal and written communication skills
• Superb editorial integrity and skills
   
• Demonstrated Excellence in digital audio editing (Audition, Soundforge, Audacity, Hindenburg)
• High proficiency in office suites; excel, word, Google docs/drive,
• Proficiency in project management suites (Asana, Airtable, Coda, Trello, etc)
   
• Demonstrated experience developing strategies to meet local news and information needs
• Proven history implementing or managing online and Social Media news distribution strategies
• Proficiency in tracking goals & results, generating accurate reports and recommending direction
   
• Exceptional organizational skills with attention to detail
• Ability to efficiently carry out multiple activities and responsibilities in one job
• Proven Project Management experience
   
• Proven track record working effectively and enthusiastically in collaboration with and managing a wide variety of people of all ages and backgrounds, both in group settings and one-to-one
• Available to work outside of regular hours during required special news coverage cycles, fundraising campaigns and for community events

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bilingual Spanish and English Fluency is an extremely valued skill for this role
• Demonstrated commitment to independent media
• Prior experience working in and passion for community or public radio & broadcasting
   
• Experience developing and editing multimedia, photos, graphics, or video with multimedia software (Photoshop, Premier) for digital publication
• Experience publishing to podcast platforms and proven podcast distribution strategies
• Prior experience publishing to Wordpress and online platforms (CorePublisher, Joomla)
• Experience using MailChimp or similar electronic newsletter interfaces
   
• Demonstrated experience working with and coordinating volunteers.
• Prior experience with conflict resolution
• Prior experience developing training resources for media-makers
• Knowledge and understanding of the Colorado media landscape and local issues

Related Experience: On-air public broadcasting, news collection, reporting, general management (community or public media)

Hours, Compensation and Benefits (Full Time)

• Full Time - including early weekday mornings, some evenings and weekends (requiring flexibility)
• $45,000 $49,000 Base Salary commensurate with experience
• KGNU values its employees. This position comes with comprehensive health insurance with multiple plan options and optional add-ons, a generous and flexible vacation policy, among other station benefits.
• This full-time position is based at KGNUs Boulder, CO studios.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE APPLYING:
Please submit a cover letter, a current up to date resume, links to three (3) audio samples of related past on-air hosting work, links to two (2) written samples, and contact information for three professional references (relevant to this job opening).

In your cover letter please address how the skills, experience and qualifications that you possess: make you qualified for the demands of this leadership position; how you would contribute to creating a culturally inclusive environment in the role for which you are applying; your strategic approach to ensure KGNU fills the gaps of the local news and informational needs of the growing and diverse communities we serve; and your vision for taking the KGNU News Department into a new era.

All Submissions should be made by email ONLY to job@kgnu.org and directed to the KGNU News Director Search Committee. No phone calls please.

Application Deadline:
November 15, 2020
11:59 PM

An automatic confirmation will be sent to each individual who submits an application. Subsequently, ONLY APPLICANTS INVITED TO INTERVIEW FOR THE POSITION WILL BE CONTACTED BY EMAIL OR PHONE.

KGNU is committed to creating and supporting a culturally inclusive environment through diversity, equity and inclusivity. KGNU is committed to providing an Equal Employment Opportunity and environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based on race, age, creed, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law. We strongly encourage applications from people of all genders, Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and people with disabilities.
Application Checklist:

• Current Resume/CV
• Cover Letter(3 pages max): addressing the questions cited above
• Contact Information for three professional references
• Attach or Link to three (3) short audio samples of past on-air hosting work
• Attach or Link to two (2) written samples of your journalistic work

Company Description:

• KGNU is the independent, noncommercial, community radio station for Boulder, Denver and beyond.
  • Independent.
    We are a mission-driven, nonprofit media outlet. We are not beholden to corporations or the government.
  • Non-commercial.
    We do not broadcast advertisements, and we do not accept underwriting from major corporations.
    Our bottom line is to provide real journalism and diverse music, not to maximize profits.
    The majority of our operating budget comes from you, the listener.
  • Community.
    We are community-powered. Volunteers produce, host, report, DJ, administer and govern the station. We broadcast 18-20 hours of locally produced programming per day. We provide hands-on training for volunteers.
    - We empower you to be the media. -
• KGNU broadcasts a diverse mix of music, news and information 24 hours a day.
• KGNU has a small staff and more than 230 volunteers who help run the station, on-air and off-air.
• KGNU has provided alternative news and music radio programming to Boulder and beyond since May 22, 1978.