NPR's board of directors announced Sunday that it had dipped into the world of public television for its new president and CEO: Gary E. Knell, chief executive of the company behind the beloved children's show Sesame Street.

Knell said he hopes to "calm the waters" at NPR after a rocky year in which the network lost several top executives and faced renewed challenges to its federal funding. Knell is to be on the job Dec. 1. Read news reports about his hiring at NPR.org and other news organizations.

 

NPR is celebrating 40 years as a network this year, and KGOU will mark 29 years as a public radio station next January. We've both come a long way in that time -- from simply being someone's dream to actually taking a big idea and making it into something tangible. Together, KGOU and NPR and the other public radio networks have grown into one of the most-trusted sources for news, information and entertainment in Oklahoma.

Listener support is the piece of the funding puzzle that makes it possible. All of the news gathering and analysis, information, conversations, and entertainment programs are on KGOU because listeners help pay for them. Our latest big idea is to reduce the amount of time we spend on the air asking for listener support. With your help, we hope to make this a regular occurrance.

Membership contributions are coming in, and we're hoping to be able to reduce KGOU's fall membership drive to just two days on the air. If you have contributed, we thank you! If not, begin or renew your support online today!

 

KGOU is among the winners in the 36th Annual Governor's Arts Awards, one of eleven individuals and five organizations that will be honored for their contributions to the arts.

KGOU will receive the Media in the Arts Award. According to the Oklahoma Arts Council, this award is given to an individual member of the media or media outlet that "demonstrates commitment to the arts in Oklahoma documented through public awareness, support, fairness, initiative, creativity and professionalism in reporting".

The honors will be awarded on November 15 during a presentation ceremony at the Oklahoma state Capitol. The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. in the 4th Floor Rotunda. A reception will follow, on the first floor of the Capitol. Both events are open to the public.

 

An eight-part series from NPR's Elections Unit, Job One, profiles the first major non-political job that defines each of the presidential candidates in the Republican field. Each piece examines the highs and lows of the job, what the candidate learned from it, and how it has been (or might be) used against them in the campaign.

The series begins this afternoon on All Things Considered, and will air occasionally on the NPR newsmagazines through mid-November. Reporters contributing to the series are from NPR's Washington and National Desks. In the first report, NPR's Ari Shapiro takes a look at former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's leadership of Bain Capital.

 

For Round 7 of NPR's writing contest, listeners were asked to send original works of fiction that have a character come to town and someone leave town. Guest judge and author Danielle Evans is reading through the submissions, and has already singled out two -- take a minute or three and read them at NPR.org.

 

Cultures around the world have made gifts of different foods in different ways for different reasons. The act of giving sustenance, sweet or savory, communicates caring and strengthens neighborly bonds. At NPR's Kitchen Window, Michele Kayal shares recipes full of compassion.

 

Joseph Guillotin, Henry Shrapnel and Jules Leotard became immortal - by entering the English language. But as Robert Krulwich and his singing (yes, singing!) partner Adam Cole tell us, when your entire life is reduced to a single definition, the results are sometimes upsetting. This catchy little music video topped the most e-mailed story list from the very first note.