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90.7 WMFE Names Interim President, Hires Search Firm to Find LaFontaine Oliver's Replacement

By Jenny Babcock

Published June 17, 2019 at 5:00 AM EDT

INTERIM PRESIDENT TAPPED, SEARCH FIRM HIRED

CONTENT DIRECTOR STEPHEN YASKO TO STEP IN AS PRESIDENT LAFONTAINE OLIVER PREPARES TO DEPART; LIVINGSTON ASSOCIATES CONDUCTING NATIONAL SEARCH FOR REPLACEMENT

June 14, 2019 – The Board of Trustees for Community Communications Inc., which operates 90.7 WMFE and 89.5 WMFV, has tapped Stephen Yasko, the stations’ director of content and audience development, to serve as interim president and general manager while a nationwide search is conducted to replace President and General Manager LaFontaine E. Oliver.

In May, Oliver announced that he would be leaving after six years at the helm of the public media organization to become president and general manager of WYPR in Baltimore, Maryland.

“Stephen’s public media experience is deep and wide-ranging and will serve WMFE and WMFV well during the executive search process,” Oliver said about Yasko, who joined WMFE and WMFV as content director in January and has spent more than 20 years in public media. He founded and grew Baltimore’s AAA Station, WTMD 89.7, into one of the leading NPR music stations; did programming, marketing and operations for NPR and produced/marketed The Diane Rehm Show at WAMU when it first went national.

"I'm thrilled to step in and make sure WMFE and WMFV continue their strong momentum into the future," Yasko said.

The Board of Trustees has hired Livingston Associates, the leading public media executive recruiting firm, to find Oliver’s replacement. The firm has conducted more than 350 searches for general managers/CEOs, mid-managers and air staff, and is responsible for recruiting Oliver to Orlando from Baltimore in 2013.

Tom Livingston, CEO of Livingston Associates, expects the search to conclude at the end of October.

In other recent WMFE & WMFV news:

In January, we began operating 89.5 WMFV at full power for the first time since the station came online in March 2018. We had been broadcasting at low power while we completed improvements to our transmitter site. The full-strength coverage area includes The Villages, Leesburg and the Golden Triangle (Eustis, Mount Dora and Tavares).

In April, 90.7 WMFE and 89.5 WMFV began a partnership with Market Enginuity to handle its corporate sponsorship sales. As an industry leader, Market Enginuity currently represents 16 public media stations across the country and podcast publisher PRX. The sponsorship team is continuing to work from the station.

In May, we started simulcasting NPR Morning Edition and NPR All Things Considered on 89.5 WMFV and 90.7 WMFE. Listeners to WMFV now hear Central Florida news stories and updates from hosts Talia Blake and Nicole Darden-Creston from 5-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. weekdays. View the full schedule >>

In May, we also began offering an additional hour of the most important news of the day on 90.7 WMFE, moving up the start time of NPR Morning Edition from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m.

There will more exciting changes to come as we craft our new strategic plan. Stay tuned!

About Community Communications Inc.:

Community Communications Inc. is a non-profit, member-supported, community-based public broadcasting company that operates 90.7 WMFE-FM, metro Orlando’s primary provider of NPR programming; 90.7-2 Classical; and 89.5 WMFV, public radio for The Villages, Leesburg and The Golden Triangle. Part of the community since 1980, Community Communications focuses on providing quality national and local news and programming. Visit wmfe.org and wmfv.org for more information.

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MEDIA INQUIRIES: Please contact Communications & Marketing Specialist Jenny Babcock at jbabcock@wmfe.org or 407-273-2300 ext. 112.