Boston Native Pam Johnston has background at WLVI and FRONTLINE
(Boston, MA – June 15, 2020) Following a nationwide search, Boston public media producer WGBH has named Pam Johnston as General Manager for News. An award-winning multimedia strategist and accomplished local news leader, Johnston is currently the Senior Director of Strategy and Audience for FRONTLINE, the investigative documentary series produced by WGBH. She will succeed Phil Redo who is retiring at the end of June after a decade leading WGBH Radio and News.
“Pam has deep roots in Boston news, and with her public media and multiplatform experience she is ideally suited to lead the WGBH news team into the digital future,” said WGBH President and CEO Jon Abbott. “Her expertise across all forms of media will build on the quality and award-winning local journalism WGBH has become known for under the leadership of Phil Redo. We’re grateful for the strong foundation he established and we’re excited about the innovation Pam will bring to how we serve our community.”
For the past eight years Johnston has collaborated with FRONTLINE’s executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath and the team as they expanded into multimedia content production and distribution, driving substantial audience growth and engagement across multiple channels and in emerging forms including digital-first original journalism, podcasts, interactives and virtual reality experiences. These innovative approaches have attracted younger and more diverse audiences to the series and further grown FRONTLINE’s reach and reputation.
“It’s an honor to be joining the accomplished WGBH News team, particularly at a time when the need for incisive, inclusive and high-quality journalism on the issues facing our communities, our nation, and our world has never been greater,” said Johnston. “I’m passionate about the vital role of independent local news and look forward to expanding the ways we serve and grow our audience with the range of content they need, where and how they want it, in these changing and challenging times.”
“Pam’s sophistication and strategy about how news reaches and informs audiences has helped transform FRONTLINE’s approach to delivering our journalism more expansively and inclusively,” said Aronson-Rath. “I’m thrilled for my colleagues at WGBH News and look forward to seeing their work flourish as ours did with the benefit of Pam’s skills, drive and innovative spirit.”
Prior to FRONTLINE, Johnston served as News Director at WLVI-TV in Boston where she led and managed a 50-person news team with responsibility for content and editorial direction. Her earlier news experience included work as a producer at WRAL in Raleigh, NC and WMTW in Portland, Maine. She also served in leadership roles at Lahey Health and the start-up social media company Gather.com. Johnston has earned Emmy, Peabody, du-Pont Columbia and Webby Awards, and was named one of Boston Magazine’s Top 10 Most Powerful Women. She holds a BS degree from Syracuse University.
Johnston will begin her new role on July 1.
About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur and more than a dozen other primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. WGBH’s television channels include WGBH 2, WGBX 44, and the digital channels World and Create. WGBH TV productions focusing on the region’s diverse community include Greater Boston, Basic Black and High School Quiz Show. WGBH Radio serves listeners across New England with 89.7 WGBH, Boston’s Local NPR®; 99.5 WCRB Classical Radio Boston; and WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR® Station. WGBH also is a major source of digital content and programs for public radio through PRX, including The World and Innovation Hub, a leader in educational multimedia with PBS LearningMedia™, providing the nation’s educators with free, curriculum-based digital content, and a pioneer in services that make media accessible to deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired audiences. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards and Oscars. Find more information at wgbh.org.
