Steve Lindbeck, who as head of Alaska Public Media led the organization out of debt and helped bring greater unity to broadcast services across the state, announced Thursday that he plans to retire.
After taking the helm in 2007, Lindbeck set about tackling a $2 million debt load and bringing greater cohesion to a network of more than two dozen public radio stations spread all over the state, from Barrow to Ketchikan to Unalaska.
"They were stations with different histories and cultures, located in very different places and we've pulled them into a unified team," Lindbeck said from Alaska Public Media's main office in Anchorage. "We've shaped a staff that's a good, close and strong and I'm really proud of them."
Lindbeck, who plans to leave his position as CEO and general manager in mid-September, described the current state of public radio in Dickensian terms.
"In some ways it's the best of times and the worst of times," he said.
On the upside, Lindbeck believes there are many exciting opportunities for radio in the digital age, with various types of media being combined in new and different ways and journalists being challenged to learn new technologies.
In terms of audience, public radio is doing well, and in rural parts of the state in particular, is a leading source of news. Alaska Public Media and its affiliates deliver content that reaches 96 percent of the population. In the Anchorage market, KSKA-FM is the most-listened-to station.
The organization also operates a television station in Anchorage and shares programming, expenses and services with television stations in Juneau and Bethel.
But sources of future revenue are still an issue. Lindbeck said the budget situation for many stations may worsen in coming years if the state fiscal climate does not improve.
Recent state cuts to public radio represent a little more than 2 percent of Alaska Public Media's revenues and the organization has a $3 million surplus to draw on throughout the slower summer months, but the 26 public radio stations in its network, all dues-paying members who share programming and reporting resources, are independently operated and face varying degrees of budget challenges.
One member, KUAC-FM, the public radio station in Fairbanks, has announced plans to pull out of the Alaska Public Radio Network. The station faces a decrease in funding from both the state and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Leaving APRN will save it about $35,000 in annual dues.
Lindbeck said Alaska Public Media is committed to keeping the 36-year-old network in place.
"We're trying to figure out models that will work better in the long run," he said.
Lindbeck, 60, moved to Alaska as a teenager in 1968 and has had a varied career. He worked for many years as a reporter and editor, including stints at the former Anchorage Daily News; held a vice chancellorship at the University of Alaska Anchorage; and headed the Alaska Humanities Forum.
He is stepping down to travel and work on personal projects.
In his resignation letter to Alaska Public Media's board of directors, Lindbeck noted that the job requires a commitment of upwards of 60 hours a week and that whoever succeeds him would need to be "steeped more fully" in the new technological landscape of radio, which along with all media has been transformed by the Internet.
"There never is and never will be an easy time for a CEO leadership transition," he wrote. "But the time has come for this one."