Director OF Listening WBUR Program Production

Director of Live Listening, WBUR Program & Production Job Description

As our Director of Live Listening, you will provide active daily leadership in growing audiences and revenue on behalf of WBUR's live listening experiences, and supporting audience, engagement and revenue goals for all other WBUR platforms. Alongside the Chief Content Officer, Executive Editor for News, and Managing Producer, you will nurture an 'audience first' culture, along with a bias toward action in project and services planning.

• Ongoing work in close coordination with executive leadership to grow listening habits to WBUR.
• Solidify and reinforce WBUR's position as a first‑choice news station in Greater Boston by amplifying local and national journalism each day.
• Interrogate and refine formatics and presentation to elevate and distinguish WBUR's live listening experience and stationarity.
• Serve as an additional strategic thought partner to senior leaders, tracking and maximizing live listening.
• Support a bias toward action – things will need to evolve for WBUR to grow live listening.
• Represent WBUR's interests with content partners (new and existing) and programming opportunities.

• Reimagine WBUR's logs and formatics to optimize time for live news through the day, along with priority messaging from across the organization. This work includes news presentation strategies, promotion and audience‑building priorities, and each moment of every local break.
• Work across the organization, convene regular "managing our messages" meetings to coordinate priorities and build collaboration around how to use air effectively.
• Once format and promo priorities are established, work directly with Programming, News, Marketing, Traffic and others to socialize any required changes to WBUR's SOP.
• Optimize and focus the WBUR day sheet to focus on major news coverage across each day.
• Communicate and manage breaking news‑special coverage opportunities on behalf of local broadcast demands and stakeholders.
• Provide ongoing listening notes to WBUR's CCO, EE, Managing Producer and others.
• Support monthly air‑checks with on‑air hosts and anchors.
• Participate in daily news meetings and manage operations and promotional planning for special coverage and developing news.
• Analyze monthly audience data and provide topline insights and recommendations on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and progress against goals/KPI’s.
• Recommend schedule adjustments based on audience research, system trends, and the local media environment.
• Serve as a sounding board/resource for format and station service questions about WBUR's national programming.
• Represent WBUR through programming partnership examinations and growth opportunities (partner & station introductions, audience and revenue analysis support, program director relations including PRPD networking, more).

• Based on listening sessions and guidance from leadership, recommend steps to enhance WBUR's stationarity, vibrancy, and pride of place in Boston.
• Develop a "Sound+Style" guide for WBUR – defining the aesthetic and personality of the station.
• Create workflows and feedback loops that steadily move WBUR towards a more modern sound and pacing.
• Continue to refine and integrate all live read copy using a more modern, conversational style.
• Collaborate with Membership on news‑driven messaging and break design during pledge drives. Minimize audience disruption and maximize revenue based on current listening patterns.

• Collaborate with new Cross Platform director, News, Podcasting, Newsletters, Social and other teams to coordinate and optimize audience flow and growth across WBUR platforms.
• Create new opportunities and workflows to elevate WBUR's enterprise journalism and most creative work.
• Design experiments to grow podcast audiences.
• Based on listening patterns, design promotion strategies to build audiences on mobile and smart speakers.
• Refine and align the use of air to promote WBUR events and other station audience priorities.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 8+ years in progressive leadership roles in news…