The Texas Station Collaborative -- a combined effort of the four largest public radio stations in Texas -- has hired its first leader. Rachel Osier Lindley, news director of WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., will be the Collaborative's statewide coordinating editor.
"This is a chance to shape a journalistic project as big and ambitious as Texas," Lindley says. "Plus, I'm excited to once again work with some of the state's greatest storytellers."
Lindley will be based at KERA in North Texas, and will work closely with the other three stations in the Collaborative: KUT in Austin, Houston Public Media and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. The project is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
She has deep Texas roots. Before taking over the newsroom in Birmingham, she spent seven years helping start Marfa Public Radio in West Texas. She also earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and her MBA at Sul Ross State in Alpine.
“Rachel’s built a national reputation as a collaborative leader in public media,” says Rick Holter, KERA’s vice president of news. “She helped relaunch the five-station Southern Education Desk, and she’s a board member of Public Radio News Directors Inc. I think what really excites us is how deeply she knows and loves Texas. That’s going to make her a great first leader for the Collaborative.”
Last weekend, Lindley was just named Best Reporter in radio by the Alabama Associated Press Media Editors; that's one of 20 awards WBHM won in that competition.
