General Manager Christina Kuzmych joined Wyoming Public Media in June, 2011, bringing 27 years of public broadcasting experience to Wyoming.
Kuzmych serves as President of PRIMA (Public Radio in Mid America), a position she has held since 2009. She is an active leader and member of several professional organizations including Western States Public Radio, and serves on committees dealing with public broadcasting legislative issues as well as initiatives in new technology.
Prior to coming to Wyoming, she led WFIU-FM, public radio for the joint radio/TV broadcast service licensed to Indiana University (www.indiana.edu). Based in Bloomington, she added repeaters and built the station out to serve south-central and portions of northern Indiana. She oversaw the expansion into HD Radio, and led the team that established award-winning online services for radio and public television (indianapublicmedia.org).
During her tenure at WFIU, she expanded the station from primarity local on-air programming to a producer of national and global content for radio and of emerging digital platforms. Under her leadership, both radio and digital content producers expanded multi-platform programming to include Harmonia, Ether Game, Night Lights, Muslim Voices, Crash Course in Islam, Focus on Flowers, Artworks, Ask the Mayor, Noon Edition, Moment of Indiana History, among others (wfiu.org). She facilitated the building of a joint radio/television/online award-winning news department, and implemented broadcast/online initiatives in partnership with Indiana University academic departments. Before her departure to Wyoming, WFIU was granted an NPR State Impact grant to cover education in Indiana in partnership with the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations state network.
Kuzmych holds a Doctorate in Composition with corollary fields in Musicology and Arts Administration, which she completed through a program at the IU Kelley School of Business. She holds a Master’s Degree in Composition and a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the IU Jacobs School of Music.
Apart from broadcasting, Kuzmych maintains “mini and very streamlined” activity as a composer. Several of her award-winning compositions are still performed by soloists and chamber groups. She hopes to devote more time to composition at some point, and to her true musical love – programming and teaching music through a “comparative literature” approach. Playing the piano remains a cherished activity, though she no longer performs.
Kuzmych is no stranger to the West. Her family lived in Wheat Ridge Colorado, to which she commuted regularly. Many a happy weekend was spent at the Wyoming/Colorado border pursuing a family tradition of mushroom-hunting – a passion that ranked high in her list of reasons to come to Wyoming!
In accepting the University of Wyoming Outreach School’s offer to lead Wyoming Public Media, Kuzmych cites WPM’s position as the third largest state radio network in the country (and in her opinion – “the best!”), as well as the superb WPM professional staff.
Born in Perth Australia, Kuzmych is the daughter of parents who left Eastern Europe due to political upheavals in the 1940’s.
