Some significant changes are coming to NPR as the radio station announced that their VP for News Programming, Sarah Gilbert, will exit the network on July 11 for a new position outside the company.
“Sarah’s contributions to NPR and public media have been immeasurable,” Senior VP of News and Editorial Director Nancy Barnes wrote in an email to staff, per Inside Radio.
“She was the driving force behind NPR’s move to a newsier format, especially on Morning Edition and later Up First, which she created in partnership with programming. This led to record audience growth before the disruption of the pandemic.”
Gilbert has been with NPR for a decade on two separate stints. She joined the public radio station in January 2012 as Senior Editor of “Weekend Edition.” Gilbert would return in October 2015 as Executive Producer of “Morning Edition.”
In 2017, Gilbert built and launched “Up First,” NPR’s daily morning news podcast, and in November 2017, she was then promoted to her current role.
“She has been in the thick of every major story that has erupted – and we all know how relentless that has been – through innumerable early mornings and weekends as the news demanded to make sure our daily and weekend flagship shows and news podcasts were provocative, timely and relevant,” Barnes added.
“Over the past few years, as the pandemic upended all our lives, she has led her teams with grace and empathy through some of the most difficult working conditions NPR has endured, taking on a lot of unseen work to ensure our shows stayed on the air to serve our 251 Member stations and their audiences without interruption. She has been a true partner to me through my 3.5 years at NPR, for which I am grateful.”
NPR has named Cara Tallo the interim VP of News Programming.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
