Tamara Gould was hired as CCO for the Public Media Group of Southern California.
Gould most recently worked as head of international co-productions and strategic partnerships for the Independent Television Service. She joined ITVS in 2006 as VP of ITVS International and was also SVP of national productions and strategic partnerships.
Before that, Gould was executive director for the Bay Area Video Coalition and an EP for KQED in San Francisco.
Yvette Cook Darby joined Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland as chief development and marketing officer.
Darby most recently worked as chief of coaching at The Leadership Coalition. She was also COO of the CaPP Institute, CEO of Usher’s New Look Foundation and CMO for the United Way of Greater Atlanta.
Before that, Darby was VP of sales and marketing for KERA in Dallas and VP of development and chief strategy officer for Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Louisville Public Media announced editorial changes.
Morgan Watkins joined as a health reporter. Watkins most recently worked as chief political reporter for the Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky. She has also been a reporter for the Gainesville Sun in Florida. “A couple of topics I’m especially interested in reporting on are mental health-related issues and how public policy affects Kentuckians’ access to harm reduction services and substance use treatment,” Watkins said in a Q&A with the station.
Breya Jones became an arts and culture reporter. She joined the station in 2021 as a breaking news reporter. “I’ll miss dipping my toes across so many different coverage areas, but I know that arts and culture is connected to so many things, so that won’t totally go away,” Jones said in a LPM Q&A.
Content
Kendall Crawford announced that she became a reporter and producer for the Ohio Newsroom, a statewide collaboration of public radio stations. Crawford, who is based in Cincinnati and will travel throughout the state, most recently worked as a western Iowa reporter for Iowa Public Radio.
Eddy Martinez joined Connecticut Public as a breaking news and general assignment reporter covering Fairfield County. Martinez most recently worked as a reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media, a chain of newspapers. He was also a reporter and researcher based in New York for Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Megan Tan became a co-host for the second season of Wild, a podcast produced by Southern California Public Radio’s LAist Studios. The podcast, which returns April 18, focuses on romantic encounters. Tan, who is joining Erick Galindo as co-host, has been a host and producer for LAist since 2019.
Blake Farmer is leaving his position as senior health care reporter for Nashville Public Radio to become head of content for Wellvana, a health-care company. Farmer joined the station in 2007 as a full-time reporter and was also news director before focusing on health stories. “With more than 3,000 stories, Blake has become one of our city’s most recognizable voices — and truly, one of the country’s best public radio journalists,” the station said in a Q&A.
Governance
Lori Castillo was elected board chair for Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. She succeeds Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison, CEO for Center for Health Care Services in San Antonio. Castillo joined the board in 2019 and most recently served as vice chair. She is VP of marketing for NatureSweet, a produce company. Derick Fletcher, a manager at the Capital Group, became vice chair. He joined the board in 2020.
Fellowships
Latino Public Broadcasting selected six short film projects for the organization’s first Latino Emerging Filmmakers Fellowship. The program, which will support the initial cohort of fellows over the course of two years, is funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. The seven fellows and their projects are:
Ebony Bailey, whose documentary The Afro “Mexpats” focuses on “the growing number of Black Americans who are moving to Mexico.”
Juan Carlos Davila, who documents fishermen in Vieques, Puerto Rico, adapting to climate change in There’s No Fish in the Sea.
Arturo R. Jiménez and Edna Diaz, whose film Sangre Violenta/Sangre Violeta documents feminist activism in Mexico.
Paloma Martinez, whose film Co-Workers (w.t.) shows how two colleagues bridge racial divides to improve their workplace conditions.
Raul Paz-Pastrana, whose film Dark Skies weaves “landscape and dark sky cinematography with poetic narrative stories” about people living in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado.
Marcia Robiou, who documents undocumented survivors of domestic abuse in New York City in Protection Denied (w.t.).
Send news of “comings and goings” to people@current.org
Tamara Gould left ITVS to join the Public Media Group of Southern California.