KAZU’s new station leader will be a familiar voice to many listeners. After several months serving in an interim role, Kellsy Panno became the station director on Sep. 1. Her new role as KAZU’s top leader follows nearly five years in the business department at KAZU. Most recently, Panno was the station’s director of business operations.
KAZU’s Scott Cohn sat down with Panno to discuss her long history at the station, the state of public media today, and her vision for the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Scott Cohn (SC): You were doing this job in an interim role since December, and you experienced just about anything that a station manager, a director, could deal with. Between our move here to Ryan Ranch, the change in public radio funding, all of the upheaval that's been going on in media. What are you going to do for an encore?
Kellsy Panno (KP): (laughs) Jump out of a plane, I think, with a KAZU parachute. Because, like, what else is there after all of that?
The station's been through a lot. It was a really challenging time. There was a lot of transition. Like you said, it kind of kicked off with the loss of federal funding almost exactly a year ago. But luckily I work with the most amazing people and have been supported and lifted up, and we've gotten through so much.
SC: Your background here goes pretty far back. Take us through that.
KP: It's a deep history. I moved up here at 18 to attend CSUMB, and in my sophomore or my junior year, I had a writing assignment for a business class where they assigned us to listen to an episode of Fresh Air. After that assignment, my radio was locked on KAZU. I got to intern in the business department for two years.
And then I went on to grad school at (San Jose State University), and I got my master's in economics. I returned to the station on, I think it was November 5th, 2021, working in underwriting in the business department of KAZU. So it'll be five years pretty soon since I came back.
SC: You're the fourth general manager station director in two years.
KP: It's wild, isn't it?
SC: That's been tough on a lot of folks here. What happens now?
KP: There's been a lot of transition in the leadership role. And like you said it really has been felt. It's been felt by the staff. It's been felt by our listeners. And, it's been felt by our partners at the university.
I have a real conviction to be here, and I'm a little bit, maybe, old fashioned. I feel a real sense of duty to KAZU, I feel such a responsibility to our listeners and to the next generation of listeners who hopefully discover public media and become lifelong fans.
I am so proud of the ways that we've grown in local content — local journalism with Monterey Bay Today, our local newscast, and The Green Room, which focuses more on arts and culture. Expanding our digital footprint. We've accomplished so much, but there's still so many opportunities. So there's plenty to dream, plenty to pursue, and plenty to do.
SC: So let's talk specifics. You're in charge. You're at the helm. It's your ship to guide. How do you take the station to the next level?
KP: 20 years ago when I first started at the station, I think our core competition was other radio stations. Now it's literally anything that you can listen to or watch or engage with on your phone. So that changes the way that I think we should approach our long term strategic planning and what we offer. And I think the way that we do that is we have to make our local news indispensable to our local audience.
My stepdad growing up, he was from East Texas. A good ol’ boy from East Texas. And he used to tell us kids, “Anybody can pray for rain. You ought to get busy digging a well.” I think that applies here, and I think that investing in local journalism is part of digging that well. We have to offer more if we expect to be supported at a greater level.
I think that there's opportunity for us here to expand major gifts and planned giving. I think there's a lot of people here on the Central Coast that would probably love to support KAZU in a bigger way. In the longer term, we have to give them a compelling reason to do so.
SC: You said that you want to make our local news indispensable. What does that mean to you?
KP: Your day has more value because you heard it. You are better able to make a decision about your family, your finances, your commute home, and that you feel like you've come away listening to KAZU, like you've learned something valuable that makes you a more informed member of our community and the country.
I take this job very seriously. The stakes are really high. I'm taking over at a time when so much has changed, both in terms of our funding, in terms of how people are consuming media. But I've also never felt more up to the task as a team than we are now. We have such an incredible staff of dedicated people. There's a lot of work to do, and I'm really, really excited to continue digging in.
SC: Well, Kellsy Pano, the station director at KAZU, now officially. I know that the staff and the community join me in wishing you all the best in this role.
KP: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
