ORLANDO, FL, May 25, 2000 - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has named Jane Christo, general manager of Boston's WBUR-FM, the recipient of the annual Edward R. Murrow Award, public radio's highest honor.
Robert T. Coonrod, CPB president and CEO, presented the award to Christo at the opening of the annual Public Radio Conference here today.
"Jane Christo has made public radio the source for news, culture and education in New England," said Coonrod. "Under her direction, the WBUR stations have consistently grown in audience size, demonstrating how much impact public radio can have. Her leadership and foresight have set an example for all of us in public broadcasting as we strive to meet the changing expectations of our audience."
Christo heads The WBUR Group, which operates and manages 90.9 WBUR-FM in Boston, 1240 WBUR-AM in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, 1290 WNRI-AM in Providence and 1230 WXNI in Westerly, Rhode Island. She was named general manager of WBUR-FM in January 1979. From 1974 to 1978, she served as WBUR-FM's director of development and promotion.
WBUR-FM is Boston's NPR News Station and is widely regarded as New England's primary radio source for in-depth international, national and local news. Under Christo's management, the weekly cumulative audience for WBUR-FM climbed from 80,000 in 1979 to 420,000 in 1999.
Under Christo's leadership, WBUR-FM has won some of broadcasting's most prestigious awards. In 1999, WBUR-FM became the first non-commercial station in history to win a "News Station of the Year" Award from the Associated Press. Since 1990, WBUR-FM has won 75 Associated Press Awards for news coverage in New England, including first place awards in every major category. WBUR-FM won the Public Radio Program Director's FLO Award for best station in a large market in 1991, 1994 and 1996, and the FLO Award for Fundraising Programming in 1997. In 1989 and 1990, CPB awarded WBUR-FM first place awards for best local news. Other major honors include three Peabody Awards, two Major Armstrong Awards, and three Ohio State Awards.
Every year since 1977, CPB has recognized individuals whose work has fostered the growth, quality, and positive image of public radio with the Murrow Award.
About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.