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KCETLink Names Wendy Hanamura as Chief Digital Officer to Help Navigate Digital Future

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Gary Dauphin elevated to vice president overseeing digital production, editorial and product teams

BURBANK, CA--May 22, 2013--KCETLink, the new national independent public media organization formed by the merger of KCET and Link Media, announced today it has named Wendy Hanamura as Chief Digital Officer. Ms. Hanamura will oversee a diverse team of developers, producers, designers, video makers and editors charged with creating media that engages audiences across multiple platforms. She will be based at KCETLink's digital lab in San Francisco, Calif.

Led by Ms. Hanamura, previously Link TV's vice president of strategy and general manager, KCETLink will develop new digital products that offer uniquely valued content to younger, more diverse audiences in Southern California, across the United States and internationally. She will also spearhead the development of branded multiplatform content for sponsors and partners, creating new revenue streams to complement the organization's existing mix of philanthropic and individual donations.

Also announced today, Gary Dauphin will be elevated from director to vice president of Digital. Since his arrival at KCET, Mr. Dauphin has not only increased the organization's portfolio of digital products, newsletters, websites and social media experiences, but he has also significantly expanded the organization's digital audience, with unique visitors to KCET.org increasing 396% from March 2010 to March 2013. Under his leadership, KCET.org has also evolved beyond a compendium of broadcast listings into a fully-fledged editorial and community experience that offers extensive coverage of Southern California food, lifestyle and politics.  In his new role reporting to Ms. Hanamura, Mr. Dauphin will manage the creative, development, and product teams in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

KCETLink productions will continue to maintain the distinct services and editorial voices of KCET and Link TV, while also exploiting the ability to share resources and programming--that educates, inspires, and entertains--across multiple screens and distribution channels.  Many existing projects already take full of advantage of multiple on-air, online and mobile distribution platforms. These include the groundbreaking web-first series Artbound, which explores the arts across Southern and Central California; Ballot Brief, an acclaimed online electoral guide that includes interactive maps and guides, as well as comprehensive funding databases detailing campaign contributions; the family of LinkTV News apps, which deliver global news and documentary video to smartphones and tablets; and the upcoming Stand Up Planet, a multiplatform digital series that will harness the universal language of standup comedy to change the conversation about global poverty.

"We are pleased to have such a strong team in place with Wendy at the digital helm to identify opportunities for digital expansion and help contribute ideas for sustainable growth for the organization," said Al Jerome, KCETLink's Chief Executive Officer. "Gary's contributions to our digital evolution are remarkable and we're pleased to have him navigate new strategies and take advantage of the emerging technologies on the media landscape under Wendy's direction."

Ms. Hanamura has a long track record of leading teams that create powerful media for multiple platforms--from television to tablets to phones--bringing new ideas to life, formulating creative plans and overseeing multi-functional teams through funding, operations, branding and marketing of major initiatives.

"KCETLink is uniquely positioned not only to create important, risk-taking content, but to drive and measure that content's impact on audiences," Ms. Hanamura said.  "We're already experimenting with new series, new ways to engage audiences, and present media across new platforms. Inspiring viewers to engage in social change has always been what drives me."

Added Dauphin:  "The task at hand is to attract new audiences, create new digital experiences, and forge more meaningful relationships with the communities we serve as public media. The question of how to best use media to connect with the communities around us has always animated my career, and I'm excited to be able to continue that work at KCETLink."

 

About Wendy Hanamura
Ms. Hanamura was also executive-in-charge of Link TV's World News App for iPad and ViewChange.org--mobile and web platforms that employ innovative search technology to deliver high impact videos and articles from around the world. Funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ViewChange brought together more than 500 of the world's best videos about solving the problems of global hunger, poverty & disease--and included an online film contest, television series and semantic web platform. She currently leads the creative team producing Stand Up Planet, a comedy-reality transmedia series looking at global health and poverty issues through the lens of standup comedy in the developing world.

Ms. Hanamura began her journalism career at Time magazine, and has been a correspondent, reporter, producer, writer and network executive for World Monitor Television, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), CBS's San Francisco station, KPIX-TV, and 's KQED-TV and the national satellite channel, LinkTV.  Her favorite project remains Honor Bound: A Personal Journey, a documentary about her father and his storied unit, the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. 

She written and spoken extensively about the future of media and news and ways to harness powerful stories for social good.

Ms. Hanamura is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University where she majored in East Asian Studies and Visual and Environmental Studies. 

 

About Gary Dauphin
Gary Dauphin, an award-winning writer, editor, consultant and digital manager.  Prior to joining KCETLink, Mr. Dauphin held senior leadership positions at a number of national web properties, including founding Director and Editor-in-Chief of AOL Black Voices, General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Africana.com, and Editor-in-Chief and Site Manager of BlackPlanet.com.

He also has worked with a number of non-profits and media organizations on technical and strategic issues around digital content and community, including NPR West. Over the last two decades Mr. Dauphin has written extensively on new media, film, politics, and visual art for wide variety of print and online publications, including Bidoun, The Root.com, Vibe magazine, the Village Voice (where he was a film critic from 1995 to 2001).

Mr. Dauphin is a graduate Yale University, where he majored in Cinema Studies. 

 

ABOUT KCETLink
KCETLink, formed by the merger between KCET and Link Media, is a national independent, nonprofit, digital and broadcast network that provides high-quality, culturally diverse programming designed to engage the public in innovative, entertaining and transformative ways. With a commitment to independent perspectives, smart global entertainment, local communities, and opportunities for engagement and social action, KCETLink depicts people and the world through a lens unavailable elsewhere in U.S. media. A viewer-supported 501(c)(3) organization, KCETLink content is distributed via satellite on DirecTV 375 and DISH Network 9410, in Southern and Central California via broadcast, as well as through various digital delivery systems. KCET and Link TV are services of KCETLink. For additional information about KCET and Link TV productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org or linktv.org.

 

 

 

 

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