Karen Everhart

Maryland

Managing Editor at Current

Managing editor, Current

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Articles

Canceling NEA grants won’t stop artists from holding to their truths

1 week ago | current.org | Jay Allison |Karen Everhart

This essay for Transom is republished with permission. This past week, Atlantic Public Media here in Woods Hole received a letter that begins like this:This is to inform you that the above referenced National Endowment for the Arts award has been terminated, effective May 31, 2025. The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.
StoryCorps’ union rallies for reversal of layoffs

Dec 20, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Communications Workers of America, the union representing StoryCorps’ employees, held a rally Sunday calling for reinstatement of workers laid off in October. The rally came on the heels of a complaint filed last month with the National Labor Relations Board over the layoffs, alleging retaliation and breach of contract. As rallygoers circled the sidewalk in front of the StoryCorps’ office in Brooklyn, N.Y., they shook tambourines, beat drums and chanted, “What do we want?
Podcast about Georgia’s Forsyth County explores legacy of town’s racist history

Dec 16, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

It’s hard to dispel a longtime rumor, but it’s important — especially when the truth is just as horrifying. With 1912: The Forsyth County Expulsion and its Aftermath, a new podcast from WABE and the Atlanta History Center, the two local institutions collaborated to do just that. The myth the show aims to dispel, long held by some Georgians, is that Georgia’s Lake Lanier sits atop a once-thriving Black community called Oscarville.
Susanne Simpson leans into EP role at ‘Masterpiece’

Nov 26, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

For much of its 53-year broadcast run, Masterpiece had a monopoly on British costume dramas. But as cable companies and streamers caught on to how popular the genre could be with American viewers, producers of the PBS staple have had to learn to compete. Now under Susanne Simpson’s leadership as head of scripted content and EP, Masterpiece met the challenge of the streaming era by getting in early on the commissioning and development process.
Wisconsin Public Media's Heather Reese dies at 50

Oct 17, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Heather L. Reese, executive director of Wisconsin Public Media since 2022, died Oct. 10. She had been undergoing cancer treatments for the last several months, but her death was sudden and unexpected. Reese was 50 years old. A respected leader in public broadcasting, Reese began her public media career in 2010 at WPM, a division of the University of Wisconsin-Madison that, in partnership with the Educational Communications Board, provides statewide access to PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Ralph Jennings, GM who guided WFUV’s growth as an NPR music station, dies at 86

Oct 16, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Ralph Jennings, who led WFUV in Bronx, N.Y., as GM from 1985 to 2011, passed away on Oct. 9 at age 86. Across his tenure, Jennings was a defining force in WFUV’s transition from a college station into an impactful NPR member station at the top of its format in public radio. WFUV is licensed to Fordham University.
Development exec Pat Callahan dies at 81

Jul 23, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Patricia Julianne Callahan, a public media fundraising executive who helped professionalize the field with software tools and other training, died July 6 in Tucson, Ariz., following a brief illness. She was 81. Callahan began her public media career in 1972 at KQED in San Francisco, where she directed the station’s auction fundraisers and volunteer program.
Former WBUR programmer George Boosey dies at 77

Jun 24, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

George Wingrove Boosey, a retired public radio programmer and journalist, died May 11 in Fayetteville, Ga., following a long illness. He was 77. Boosey began his journalism career in his teens, when he worked as a copy boy for the Pulitzer Prize–winning Arkansas Gazette, according to an obituary provided by his family. He reported for the paper from 1965–71 and then joined United Press International, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Austin Fuller joins Current’s editorial team

Mar 18, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Austin Fuller, a journalist who previously covered business for the Orlando Sentinel, joined Current Monday as a reporter. Fuller has 10 years of experience in daily journalism. At the Sentinel, he covered publicly traded and privately owned companies with headquarters in Orlando, including Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, and Publix Super Markets. He reported extensively on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on local restaurants and retailers.
Wisconsin pubcaster Ron Bornstein dies at 91

Mar 13, 2024 | current.org | Karen Everhart

Ron Bornstein, a retired public broadcasting executive credited for steering NPR out of its 1983 financial crisis, died Feb. 23 in Madison, Wis. He was 91. Bornstein spent much of his public broadcasting career at the University of Wisconsin–Extension, where his jobs included director of telecommunications and GM of WHA-TV and WHA Radio in Madison, stations that now are part of PBS Wisconsin and WPR’s Ideas Network. He went on to leadership roles at the University of Wisconsin System.