If public radio were an All-Star baseball game, Mary Beth Kirchner, Julie Burstein and Marge Ostroushko would be among the power hitters on any team’s lineup. These three producers have accumulated a trophy case full of radio’s top honors by participating in the creation of many of the public radio system’s favorite programs including PRI’s Studio 360, American Routes, Speaking of Faith, A Prairie Home Companion, This American Life, Carnegie Hall Tonight, The Satellite Sisters, Jazz Profiles, Gray Matters and More By Corwin, to name a few. As close professional colleagues who have collaborated on and off since 1990, Kirchner, Burstein and Ostroushko have now joined forces to seek out and cultivate new on-air talent for the public radio system.

Mary Beth Kirchner has been developing national programming for the last twenty years, with an impressive history of developing creating new projects and series and working with an extensive list of talent. Starting as Executive Producer at the Smithsonian’s Office of Telecommunication in 1987, she shaped novice on-air voices, working daily among world-renowned scholars in art, history, science and music. While at the Smithsonian, Kirchner was Executive Producer of Folk Masters at Carnegie Hall, a 13-week series for Carnegie Hall’s Centennial, featuring dozens of performers never before heard on national radio and hosted by folklorist Nick Spitzer (winner of the CPB Gold award). Folk Masters led to American Routes, a weekly music show hosted by Spitzer, now in its eighth year and airing on over 200 stations, for which Kirchner serves as Executive Producer (winner of the 2005 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award). After the Smithsonian, Kirchner served as National Programming Director for radio at WETA in Washington, DC (1990-1993) and for the last dozen years, she has been an independent producer and national programming consultant in New York (1994-1999) and now in Los Angeles. Kirchner has launched multiple national productions including Jazz Profiles, a Peabody-award winning series of documentaries from NPR, Gray Matters, a decade-running documentary series on brain science from PRI, winner of fifteen Gold medals from the International Radio Festival of New York; Seasonings, a limited series of food specials hosted by Vertamae Grosvenor from NPR, winner of the James Beard Award; and More by Corwin, contemporary radio dramas from the legendary dramatist of radio’s Golden Age, Norman Corwin, for which Kirchner was a recipient of the Columbia duPont Silver Baton. Kirchner was also the Executive Producer for the launch of The Satellite Sisters from WNYC, folklorist Hal Cannon’s series of features from the Western Folklife Center, and the Casual Concerts series from conductor David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She has been honored with over fifty national and international awards.

Julie Burstein is well known for her ability to create entertaining and dynamic new programming and for her skill at helping talent from other media become effective radio personalities. She began her radio career 25 years ago at WNYC, and early in her career worked at NPR and as the first arts reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia. Julie has gone on to develop, produce, and direct many nationally broadcast series such as PRI's Studio 360, AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight, Time Warner Presents The New York Philharmonic, LIVE!, and Riverwalk: Live from the Landing. As a coach of new radio talent, Burstein has worked with actors, including Joel Grey (Mostly Meshugah! The Music and Comedy of Mickey Katz for NPR) and John Rubinstein (Carnegie Hall Tonight), conductors such as Dennis Russell Davies (Music in the Present Tense: The American Composers Orchestra series) and Simon Rattle (Revolution of Expression), and writers Jamie Bernstein Thomas (The New York Philharmonic, LIVE) and Jessica Hagedorn (Out of Asia). Most recently, as Executive Producer in charge of creating and launching PRI’s Studio 360, she prepared novelist and critic Kurt Andersen, who had never before hosted a radio show, to serve as the program’s on-air host. Under her leadership, Studio 360 is now in its sixth year and airs on 150 stations. Burstein’s radio productions have received numerous awards including two Peabodys, the most recent for Studio 360’s hour-long exploration of Herman Melville’s "Moby-Dick" in 2004.

Marge Ostroushko has worked with notable producers, producing organizations, and programs for the past 25 years, earning the high praise of being described as “the producer’s producer.” She was Associate Producer for A Prairie Home Companion, worked five years as an independent consultant for This American Life, and served as the Managing Producer for Speaking of Faith; she also worked at PRI for ten years overseeing new program development, including on The Miles Davis Radio Project; Rabbit Ears Radio; Radio Kronos; The Writer’s Almanac; Ben & Jerry’s Newport Folk Festival; and Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth. In addition, Ostroushko has served as the marketing manager for ongoing programs such as A Prairie Home Companion and Whad’Ya Know with Michael Feldman, for which she developed focused marketing plans and station support. As an independent consultant, marketing specialist, and producer Ostroushko has forged close working relationships with many stations and program directors around the country as well as all of the national distribution/marketing organizations. Most recently, in 2000 Minnesota Public Radio hired Ostroushko to develop an innovative program idea with a compelling new host: the result was Speaking of Faith, now a highly regarded weekly program which has attracted a wide range of funders and won numerous national awards. Ostroushko herself has won many awards including two Peabodys (for Mississippi: River of Song and A Prairie Home Companion).

Lori Leibovich's writing has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, the New York Observer, the Washington Post, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Cookie. She was on the editorial staff of Salon.com for six years and edited the anthology Maybe Baby: 28 Writers Tell the Truth About Skepticism Infertility, Baby Lust, Childlessness, Ambivalence, and How They Made the Biggest Decision of their Lives (HarperCollins). She lives in Brooklyn.

Advisors:

Philip Bither has been Walker Art Center’s Senior Curator of Performing Arts since April 1997. He has been responsible for overseeing one of the largest and most dynamic performing arts programs in the country, committed to nurturing and celebrating the most important artistic visions in contemporary dance, music, theater, and performance art through presentations, residencies, and commissions. The breadth, scope, and influence of the Walker’s Performing Arts programming is comparable with few other organizations in the country. Bither has overseen significant expansion of the Performing Arts program, including the raising of the program's first commissioning/programming endowment, the commissioning of nearly 100 new works in dance, music and performance, and the annual presentation/residency support of dozens of contemporary performing arts creators, established and emerging. Prior to this, he served as Director of Programming for the Flynn Center and Artistic Director of the Discover Jazz Festival (Burlington, VT) from April 1988 to April 1997. From 1984-1988, he worked as the Associate Director/Music Curator of the Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Betsy Gardella assumed the position of President & CEO of New Hampshire Public Radio on September 1, 2005 upon completing her tenure as Project Director for American Public Media’s 2005 Public Radio Collaboration, Think Global, a national editorial project that broadcast more than 100 programs on the topic of globalization the week of May 16-22, 2005. Think Global documentaries, features, commentaries, specials and national programs were aired on approximately 350 public radio stations across the country, by the BBC World Service, the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Radio Netherlands. Ms. Gardella is the former Executive Vice President and COO of WNYC Radio and led the effort to secure the station’s independence from the City of New York raising $20-million to purchase its AM and FM broadcast licenses. Also during that period, Ms. Gardella helped the station’s recovery efforts post-9/11 and led the station’s fundraising program resulting in operating fund growth from $8.5-million to $23-million. Prior to working in public radio, Ms. Gardella served as General Manager, New York Shakespeare Festival, U.S. Director, American Center in Paris, and Executive Director, National Dance Institute. She has served as a consultant to cultural, media and educational institutions including Development Exchange Inc., Developing Radio Partners, Public Radio Exchange, Minnesota Public Radio, New York University, Station Resource Group and WAMU. She currently serves on the Board of Directors, New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits (Concord, NH); National Council of Graywolf Press (Saint Paul, MN); Advisory Board, The Franklin Pierce College/Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication (Rindge, NH); and Advisory Board, Playwrights Horizons Theater School (New York City). Ms. Gardella lives in Hopkinton, New Hampshire with her husband, David White, and 14-year old daughter, Katy.

Abby Goldstein began her career in public radio in 1986 at KVLU in Beaumont, Texas, where her mother Bonnie was the Membership Director. While studying speech and theatre at Lamar University, Abby spent a lot of time at KVLU. She and her mother persuaded the Program Director to offer Abby a weekend shift. Once she got her first taste of radio, her passion for the medium was ignited. In 1989, Abby moved to Dallas and was hired as a part time board operator at KERA 90.1. Within a year Abby was made full time and named the host of Afternoon Music, playing an adult alternative mix of folk, blues, international, contemporary and Texas based music. She ruled the midday airwaves for the next 5 years. During that time, Abby created the position of Promotions Director for KERA 90.1, created a community presence for the radio station and was eventually named Music Director. In 1995, as KERA 90.1 prepared to change its midday format to news and talk programming, Abby made her way to WXPN in Philadelphia, where she spent 6 months on the air, producing and conducting interviews for The World Café. When 93.3 The Zone, a commercial adult alternative music station, signed on the air in Dallas in 1996, Abby returned to Texas, launched her Sunday night Texas music show “Lone Star Radio.” In 2000, KERA 90.1 offered Abby the chance to return to public radio as their Program Director and she jumped at the chance. Under her direction, KERA 90.1 saw 6 years of unprecedented audience and membership growth. She also hosted a Saturday night Texas music show for 3 years called “Lone Star Saturday Night”, which became a desired destination for Texas musicians like Robert Earl Keen, Billy Joe Shaver, Lisa Loeb, Rhett Miller, Jimmy Lafave, The Derailers, Stephen Bruton, Abra Moore, Slaid Cleaves, Guy Clark and many others. In May of 2006, Abby moved to New England to take the reigns at New Hampshire Public Radio, a statewide network of 11 transmitters and translators that serves a large portion of northern New England. She lives in Concord, New Hampshire with her husband Jason, two cats and a dog.

Robert Krulwich is "the most inventive network reporter in television" (TV Guide), a beloved correspondent who for years has made economics, technology, and science funny, entertaining and comprehensible. Now at National Public Radio and ABC News, he appears regularly on the NPR news programs -- and "Nightline", "World News Tonight" and "20/20". He also regularly hosts television specials for "Nova" and "Frontline" on PBS. He has been nominated for more than thirty Emmy awards, and has won all of the most prestigious awards in broadcasting included the George Polk and the DuPont-Columbia Awards.

As president and general manager of WBEZ, Torey Malatia oversees all day-to-day operations and programming and production decisions at Chicago Public Radio. Torey joined the staff of Chicago Public Radio in July 1993 as vice president of programming, and was soon appointed station manager in 1995. In 1996, he became president and general manager. Torey serves as president of The WBEZ Alliance board of directors. In 1995, he co-founded, with Ira Glass, This American Life, a weekly radio series for which Glass and Malatia jointly received a George Foster Peabody Award in 1996. He has also received the 2003 Public Radio International (PRI) Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In 2001, he was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame as the first not-for-profit representative to receive this honor. Under his leadership, Chicago Public Radio has developed its most significant national initiatives and programs including The Third Coast International Audio Festival in 2000, Sound Opinions in 2005, and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, a co-production with National Public Radio in Washington, DC in 1998. In addition, he has created numerous award-winning local programs, among them Metropolis, in 1994, Odyssey and Eight Forty-Eight, both in 1998. Torey began his career in radio in 1972 as a part-time announcer for former commercial classical station KHEP-FM in Phoenix, Arizona. After college and graduate school, he returned to KHEP-FM in 1979, later becoming its music director in 1982. In 1985, he became program director for the Boston Globe’s classical station KONC-FM, also in Phoenix. Torey moved back to his first home Chicago, to work for commercial classical station WFMT 98.7 FM, where he designed and led the programming of WFMT’s Beethoven Satellite Network, a classical music format service that grew to include 150 public radio affiliates during his tenure. In the early 1990s, he became director of programming for KUOW 94.9 FM, Seattle’s public radio station, before returning to Chicago to work for the Capital Cities/ABC-owned WLS 890 AM and 94.7 FM. Torey has an M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from Arizona State University and has done postgraduate work at the University of Toronto in Middle English literature at U of T’s Medieval Centre.

Bobby McFerrin is one of the natural wonders of the music world. A ten-time Grammy Award winner, he is one of the world’s best-known vocal innovators and improvisers, a world-renowned classical conductor, the creator of "Don’t Worry Be Happy", one of the most popular songs of the late 20th century and a passionate spokesman for music education. His recordings have sold over 20 million copies, and his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea, the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbie Hancock have established him as an ambassador of both the classical and jazz worlds. McFerrin’s reach extends well beyond musical circles: he’s also worked with actor Jack Nicholson, dancer Savion Glover, and comedians Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. With a four-octave range and a vast array of vocal techniques, McFerrin is a vocal explorer who has combined jazz, folk and a multitude of world music influences – choral, a cappella, and classical music – with his own ingredients. As a conductor, Bobby is able to convey his innate musicality in an entirely different context. Described by many as "unconventional," Bobby McFerrin is an artist who has the ability to reach beyond musical genres and stereotypes for a sound that is entirely his own.

With almost 27 years in radio, Leslie Peters has been a reporter, a talk show host, a producer, a program marketer, and an audience analyst. As co-creator of "Heat with John Hockenberry" a nightly talk show from National Public Radio, she shares a 1991 George Foster Peabody Award. She also established NPR's first program marketing department and directed it for nearly a decade. Since 1997 she has been a principal participant in some of public radio's largest and most comprehensive audience studies, and is currently Vice President of Knowledge Management at Audience Research Analysis, a leading producer of analytical systems designed to help public radio networks and stations increase public service and public support.

Lee Woodman, president of Lee Woodman Media in Washington, DC. Woodman brings some 25 years of experience in launching new media projects within both the non-profit and corporate world to the project team. Woodman was formerly Executive Producer of Smithsonian Entertainment where she supervised the Institution’s representation by Creative Artists Agency, one of the most influential talent agencies in Los Angeles. In this capacity she worked with agents in all disciplines (print, film, music, television, and new media), a full range of talent, leading feature film companies, cable entities and television and radio networks. Launch’s alliance with Woodman therefore gives the team an additional network of prominent talent agents from which to harvest new voices – including actors, writers, storytellers and more, both established and up and coming.

Launch will solicit input regarding new potential hosts from a number of other well-connected professionals. Among them are Judi Moore Latta, Professor at Howard University in Washington, DC and a long-time public radio producer (Wade in the Water: African-American Sacred Music Traditions and The Sunday Show). Other people we will call upon to help us identify talent include Jocelyn Gonzales at New York University, who will be able to provide overall guidance on college and ethnic radio talent; and Rachael Cooper from the Asia Society in New York City.