James Morgese, president and general manager of Rocky Mountain PBS, will retire after 18 years, he announced Tuesday, remaining until a successor is determined.
Morgese, who brought digital awareness and a passion for the educational potential of public broadcasting to the job, is the longest tenured general manager in the Denver market, and one of the longest serving managers in the national PBS system.
“I’ve got another career in me,” Morgese said.
“I’ll always love public broadcasting, I’ll always love Colorado. I need to make a change to keep myself fresh.”
Morgese indicated he may continue in public TV at the national level, but he is tired of station operations. “I’m not your hardcore fundraiser,” he said.
Within the KRMA system he is known for shepherding the organization from a single Denver station with origins in the public school system to a five-station public television network with stations in Denver, Grand Junction, Pueblo/Colorado Springs, Durango and Steamboat Springs.
“For the organization’s next generation and for myself, I think it’s a good time. The place is in good shape. You go to public television meetings around the country, it’s the walking wounded. The business model of public TV was great in 1969. As we look to the future, we’ve got to get into new media and new business models. We’ve got to consider doing things differently.”
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
