News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
WCTE President and CEO Becky Magura was surprised and honored when she got word she was selected to lead Nashville Public Television.
Magura said that WCTE’s accomplishments over the year showed she could succeed in a major market. However, Magura said her staff that got the station to this point made it all possible and are ready to achieve more.
“More than anything, I want them to believe in themselves,” Magura said. “And know that they’re primed for the next era of leadership. Everything will be good because we have a great team, we have a great board and we have an incredible community.”
Magura said that Cookeville will always be home, saying Nashville was one of the only places she considered leaving for. Magura said it was difficult to break the news of her departure to her staff, but there had been preparation for this moment.
“We’re a family and I think we’ve been doing succession planning for a while,” Magura said. “This is my 39th year of being employed and we’ve accomplished a tremendous amount and I think one of the things I shared with them is… I might have gotten a lot of the accolades and recognition over the past years but it was because they delivered.”
She said WCTE was able to grow and succeed because of dedication to go above and beyond inside and out of the station. Magura said when the station had a goal, they went after it and then some.
“Every time I ever invited someone to come and see us, if it was PBS or CPB or the time that we asked Ken Burns to kick off his country music tour in Cookeville,” Magura said. “I knew we could do it because they would deliver, I knew it and they have every time. That’s not going to change, that wont change because that’s who they are and that’s who we are.”
Magura said that during her 39 years there are many accomplishments to recognize like education efforts and response during natural disaster. She said in the future she hopes to see coordination between the stations to grow the footprint of public broadcasting.
