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Minnesota Public Radio Appoints Sarah Lutman Senior Vice President of Content and Media
Responsible for Full Portfolio of Programming
at Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media
August 10, 2005
(St. Paul) Aug. 10, 2005 — Minnesota Public Radio has announced the appointment of Sarah Lutman as senior vice president of content and media.
In this role, Lutman will be responsible for all regional programming broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio's 37-station network as well as all programming produced and distributed by American Public Media, the national production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio. American Public Media produces and distributes more than 20 national programs including Marketplace, Speaking of Faith, Splendid Table, Weekend America and other popular public radio programs.
Currently senior vice president for cultural programming and initiatives at Minnesota Public Radio, Lutman was named to the new position after a five-month nationwide search that identified nearly 300 potential candidates.
"Listeners tune in to our broadcasts and Web visitors come to our Web sites for the quality of our content," said Bill Kling, president of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media. "It is critically important that we have a chief content officer who has the vision and leadership to develop programming that will serve and build audiences, and reflect the increasing diversity of America. Our search identified many excellent candidates. But the search ultimately proved that Sarah Lutman is clearly the person best qualified to lead our regional and national programming portfolios."
Lutman joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1999 and has held positions of increasing responsibility within administration and the Content and Media Division, most recently as senior vice president for cultural programming and initiatives. She led new format development when Minnesota Public Radio purchased WCAL FM in November 2004. In January, the station launched in the Twin Cities as KCMP 89.3 FM The Current with new, alternative public service music programming designed to appeal to young audiences and support local musicians. The Spring 2005 Arbitron report on radio audiences, appearing just two months after the station went on the air, counted 170,100 weekly listeners — gaining the new station an initial 2.1 percent market share. More than 6,500 listeners signed on as founding members, another indication of strong support for the station.
"Under Sarah's leadership, Minnesota Public Radio has expanded its arts and cultural programming to become one of the state's premier arts organizations, and American Public Media is increasingly recognized as one of the nation's leading producers of music, arts and cultural programming," said Jon McTaggart, senior vice president and chief operating officer. "In addition, she has tirelessly advocated for our journalistic values and the importance of our regional and national news programming."
Prior to joining Minnesota Public Radio, Lutman was senior program officer at The Bush Foundation. She also co-founded and edited the nation's leading publication devoted to arts and cultural grantmaking, the Grantmakers in the Arts Journal. Lutman was part of a team that founded Artswire, an early online venture created to convene the arts and cultural community.
Earlier, Lutman was executive director of an Oakland, Calif.-based visual and literary arts center and school. A trained classical musician, she graduated from Mills College in Oakland. Lutman serves on numerous boards and is a frequent lecturer on arts policy and the nonprofit sector and a contributor to arts policy publications.
Press Contacts:
Jennifer Syltie Johnson
Minnesota Public Radio
651-290-1071
jjohnson@mpr.org
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