Saving KPLU and the Birth of KNKX

When Pacific Lutheran University announced it would sell its public radio station, KPLU, to the University of Washington’s KUOW, the community rallied to save the station. Matt Martinez is the Director of Content of KNKX, and was the project manager for the Save KPLU campaign. He’ll talk about how the campaign came together, and how the Save KPLU campaign harnessed the energy from the community to save a local news and music resource. 

Matt Martinez joined the station in August 2015. Previously, he was Senior Producer for NPR in Washington, D.C. He led a team of producers responsible for developing new show and podcast pilots, supporting live events, and supporting stations in their fundraising efforts. Matt started at NPR in 2000 as a producer for NPR's afternoon flagship newsmagazine All Things Considered. He also worked on the team that produces Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, and created The Bryant Park Project, a multi-platform morning show on Sirius Satellite Radio produced at NPR New York, hosted by Alison Stewart. He served as the show's Supervising Senior Producer until it ended production in July 2008. After Bryant Park he ran the weekend version of All Things Considered. He returned to weekday All Things Considered in 2012 as Supervising Senior Producer where he led the show's staff of producers and editors, shaping the sound of the daily broadcast.

As a newsmagazine producer, Martinez has been involved in some of the biggest stories of the past two decades. He was part of NPR's award-winning coverage of September 11th, reporting from New York with Robert Siegel on the day of the attacks. He was at the helm of All Things Considered the day of the Boston Marathon bombing, leading the staff through a week of live coverage. His work as a field producer with NPR hosts and reporters ranges from codeine syrup abuse in Houston to Sudanese refugees in Portland, Maine, to the "Shed Boys" of Port Townsend, Washington, to reporting on the New Hampshire Primary. Matt began his career at public radio station KNAU in Flagstaff, Arizona as a reporter and local host of All Things Considered. He graduated from Northern Arizona University.