Valley Public Radio has a new employee responsible for the station’s broadcast and digital content, Alexandra Burke. Burke began work in mid-June as the station’s new Content Director. Burke will supervise the station’s two broadcast services, KVPR and KVPR Classical, including programming, on-air personnel and operations staff.
Burke joins the station’s management team with over a decade of experience in all aspects of public radio operations. Prior to joining Valley Public Radio, Burke worked at other fellow California NPR member stations including KUSP in Santa Cruz, KAZU in Monterey Bay, and KALW in San Francisco. She has worked on-air as a Morning Edition host, served as an operations director and station manager, and has extensive experience in station fundraising efforts.
Valley Public Radio’s President and General Manager Joe Moore said the station is excited to welcome Burke to the team. “Alex is an important addition to our station, and will help elevate our service to the community across the board. She has the sort of broad range of experience in public radio that is essential at stations of this size, where we all have to wear a lot of hats. At the same time, she has a big picture perspective of the public radio system, and how stations can serve their community and continue to innovate that is a great compliment to our existing staff,” said Moore. “We’re really excited to work with her and think she has a bright future in public radio.”
“I am so impressed with the strides Valley Public Radio has made in growing their regional news service in recent years, while continuing to offer the signature arts and cultural programming that the station has built its legacy on,” Burke said. “Valley Public Radio is doing a better job than ever at providing timely, relevant content to San Joaquin Valley residents, and recent audience growth proves it. I can’t wait to help amplify and build on the great work that’s already happening here.”
Burke is returning to Fresno after 15 years living and working in the Monterey Bay area. She started out in radio as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, hosting music shows on the student-run radio station on campus, KZSC.
In Burke’s new role at the station, she’ll be supervising a number of significant projects, including a rebuild of the station’s website, a rebranding project, and a continued evolution of the station’s local presentation of flagship NPR news programs like All Things Considered.
About Valley Public Radio
Valley Public Radio serves residents of Central California with NPR programming, local news, classical music and more. The station operates two programming services: KVPR (FM 89.3 in Fresno and FM 89.1 in Bakersfield) and KVPR Classical (FM 89.3 HD-2 in Fresno), as well as streaming and podcasts at KVPR.org and the KVPR app. For over 40 years, Valley Public Radio has been a leading source of news, information and music for listeners in Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Madera, Merced and Mariposa Counties. In 2019 the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by State Senator Melissa Hurtado, and in 2021 received three Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the RTDNA for news coverage, the third consecutive year in a row.