Community Radio for Northern Colorado has announced the appointment of Tammy Terwelp as President/CEO effective April 5.
Terwelp joins the operator of Public News/Talk 91.5 KUNC Greeley/Fort Collins and AAA “105.5 The Colorado Sound” KJAC Timnath after serving as Executive Director for Aspen Public Radio since January 2019. Terwelp has also been General Manager of 91.5 KRCC Colorado Springs, Program Director of 90.5 WESA Pittsburgh, and has worked at WBEZ/WTTW Chicago, WLVT-TV Allentown PA, and Wisconsin Public Radio.
At KUNC/KJAC, Terwelp succeeds Neil Best, who announced his intention last spring to retire after 48 years at the station. Best joined KUNC in 1973 and served as News/Public Affairs Director, Program Director and General Manager before rising to President/CEO in 2009. Best was part of the community group that acquired KUNC from University of Northern Colorado in 2001 and then added KJAC in late 2015.
Community Radio for Northern Colorado today announced that Tammy Terwelp has been selected as President and CEO, effective April 5, 2021, succeeding Neil Best, who retires after a 48-year career with the nonprofit that operates NPR-affiliate KUNC and The Colorado Sound.
“CRNC conducted a national search and we were pleased with the strength and depth of the pool of candidates interested in our leadership post” said Board Chair Teresa Valerio Parrot. “Tammy rose to the top of all applicants based on her experience leading NPR-affiliated stations, her fundraising successes and her vision for how KUNC and Colorado Sound can best meet the needs of our staff and community. It was an added bonus that she has experience with and knowledge of our state’s media landscape and shared her vision for additional opportunities and partnerships for our stations. We look forward to welcoming Tammy to northern Colorado.”
Terwelp has more than 20 years of experience in public and commercial media, most recently serving as Executive Director at Aspen Public Radio. Before Aspen Public Radio, she was the General Manager of KRCC in Colorado Springs for more than three years. Terwelp also currently serves on the board of the Colorado Broadcasters Association.
“I am incredibly honored and excited to have been chosen as the next leader of CRNC,” Terwelp says. “I am looking forward to working with the community, board, and staff in service to the public of Northern Colorado by upholding and furthering both stations’ missions into the future. KUNC has been a close ally and partner to myself and the news stations I led in Colorado over the last five and a half years, and my start in radio at a music station similar to The Colorado Sound allows me to reaffirm some of the founding reasons this business has brought joy in connecting people.”
She served as the first program director at Pittsburgh’s 90.5 WESA, and worked for more than seven years in programming at WBEZ in Chicago. Her early career also included positions at public radio and TV stations in Chicago; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.
CRNC’s board enlisted Livingston Associates, a public media search and strategy firm, to assist with the search.
Terwelp follows the strong tenure of Best, who served as News & Public Affairs Director, Program Director and General Manager before being named President/CEO in 2009. Under his leadership, KUNC became an independent, community-licensed station in 2001, when a group of listeners formed The Friends of KUNC and raised $2 million in 20 days to purchase the station’s license from the University of Northern Colorado and preserve it as an independent alternative to Colorado Public Radio. Since leaving the university, KUNC spun off its diverse music discovery programming onto The Colorado Sound, a full-time music station, in 2016, and has built the largest newsroom in Northern Colorado in order to provide news and information 24 hours a day.
“It feels like I never have had to work a day in my life. I’m fortunate to come in each day and be part of an organization that values community and in turn is valued by the community,” Best says.
The Neil Best Future Voices Reporting Fellowship has been established to honor Best and will be awarded to young journalists who’ll spend a year learning their craft under the mentorship of KUNC’s nationally recognized local news staff, in order to ensure that a new generation of reporters are trained in the professional skills and ethics that are the hallmark of KUNC and NPR’s reporting.
