One to One with Bill Goodman:
Paula Kerger
aired November 3 and 5, 2006
Paula Kerger, president and chief executive officer of the Public Broadcasting Service, discusses the current state of public broadcasting with host Bill Goodman on this edition of One to One.
As head of PBS, Kerger directs the operations of the nation’s largest public broadcasting service, comprising 348 member stations (including KET) that together reach more than 99 percent of U.S. television households. “I am honored and thrilled to become the next president and CEO of PBS,” Kerger said in January, when she was named the system’s sixth president. “I firmly believe that public television’s greatest days lie ahead.... Now more than ever, Americans need a strong public television system. I am committed to doing all I can to ensure that they have it.”
Among the topics discussed during the program are the role of public broadcasting in today’s media environment, Kerger’s plans for a renewed focus on education at PBS, the relationship between PBS and its member stations, the transition to digital broadcasting, and ventures into a wide variety of other methods of distributing programs. The interview was taped during a visit to Kentucky by Kerger and several other national public broadcasting leaders for discussions and demonstrations of innovative KET educational projects.
Before taking the helm at PBS, Kerger was the top executive at New York’s Educational Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York, two of the nation’s largest public television stations. She is a former director of principal gifts for the Metropolitan Opera, director of development and alumni affairs for International House in New York, and program development officer for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.
