News Release

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC (91.5 FM) has hired veteran broadcast journalist Connie J. Walker to lead WUNC’s 12-person news department. Walker, who comes to WUNC from Wisconsin Public Radio, takes over as news director from Emily Hanford, who has been named senior news editor in charge of the WUNC-produced North Carolina Voices series.

In her previous post as news director at Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), Walker was responsible for coordinating news coverage around the state and providing material for 18 newscasts on WPR’s two programming streams. She also served on the station’s program planning and management teams. Walker had been with WPR since 1988, working first as a legal affairs reporter and in the Green Bay bureau before moving to the station’s headquarters in Madison. She worked for several commercial radio news stations in Wisconsin before joining the public radio network.

Known as a leader in public radio programming circles, Walker is president of the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. and a past-president of the Wisconsin Associated Press Broadcast Member Association.

At North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC, Walker will work with the rest of the senior management team to develop and implement a programming strategy to increase North Carolina’s exposure in locally and nationally produced public radio programming. As part of her responsibilities, she will oversee a new innovations desk for the Southeast Marketplace News Bureau, created through a partnership between the national Marketplace program and WUNC.

"Connie Walker’s experience as a news director for a major statewide network will greatly help North Carolina Public Radio as we expand our reach to better serve our state and its citizens," said George Boosey, WUNC’s program director. "We are excited to have Connie here to guide the expansion of our news staff and news programming, and to work with the wonderful reporting team we already have to take WUNC’s programming to the next level."

Walker succeeds Hanford, who has been named senior news editor in charge of North Carolina Voices, an ambitious documentary and expanded news series that explores complex issues that impact the state. Hanford directed the Understanding Poverty project, which concludes Friday (April 22), exploring the causes, consequences, and changing nature of poverty and its impact. The two-week series has included daily features on Morning Edition, two documentaries, and daily reporting on poverty during WUNC’s noon call-in show, The State of Things.

North Carolina Public Radio–WUNC is a service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, broadcasting at 91.5 FM in the Triangle and Triad, at 90.9 FM in Rocky Mount/Wilson, and at 88.9 FM on the Outer Banks.

-30-

Note: Walker can be reached at (919) 966-5454.

News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu