Working for NPR must be kinda like working for The Eagles Greatest Hits album, if that album was actually a news organization. It must be the whitest thing ever. Everyone probably wears shorts with socks and New Balance sneakers with no hint of self-awareness. They’re all probably LARP-ers. If NPR got any whiter, they might as well legally be classified as albino.
Their current CEO, Gary Knell, is leaving the company after just 23 months. That’s no time at all!
“I will be leaving NPR after my term ends in late fall to join the National Geographic Society as its President and CEO. I was approached by the organization recently and offered an opportunity that, after discussions with my family, I could not turn down.”
Sounds like some Illuminati shit, dude.
Knell will stay through the fall to make sure his replacement is up to par, and they’ll probably have to listen to a bunch of NPR for the job. Could you imagine the job interview to be head of NPR? I got freaked out enough about my Jamba Juice interview — I can only imagine what it would be like to interview to be head of a major news organization. He continued:
“The Board, under the leadership of Chair Kit Jensen, has been incredibly supportive of my leadership and is more than up to the task of finding a great successor. This is a remarkable organization and being NPR’s CEO is a remarkable job, the best part of which has been engaging with each of you and with thousands and thousands of our supporters around the country. This is a job that demands everything of you, but returns more than you’d thought possible.
National Geographic is, presumably, looking to expand from the “things that are left in dentists’ waiting rooms” market and into the mainstream. Knell — whose previous job was (get this) fucking CEO of Sesame Street (!!!) — might just be the perfect guy for the job. National Geographic is a massive brand, if somewhat dated, yet so was NPR just a few years ago. And so was Sesame Street. The three companies actually are pretty similar in that people grow into the brands at different stages in their lives, as opposed to the brands having to aggressively seek out new viewers. Name an American kid who wasn’t weaned to some degree on Sesame Street, name a 20- or 30-something who doesn’t listen to NPR, and then name an old person who doesn’t have at least one dog-eared copy of National Geographic laying around. Knell’s transition might just be the perfect thing.
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Knell replaced Vivian Schiller, who herself resigned after two controversies with NPR: firing Juan Williams over his (kinda racist) viewpoint of Muslims on planes, and firing Ron Schiller for making statements about conservative groups. Knell, on the other hand, is resigning to go to a much cooler job.
Hopefully, Knell is the kind of dude who can make National Geographic cool again. It’d be rad to see a whole generation of people get excited about explorers.
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