KUNC names new CEO to replace retiring longtime leader

GREELEY — Community Radio for Northern Colorado has named Aspen Public Radio executive director Tammy Terwelp as its next leader.

The operator behind NPR affiliate KUNC and The Colorado Sound said Terwelp will take the reins on April 5 and during the 20th anniversary year of the station’s radio license being spun out of the University of Northern Colorado and into an independent group.

Prior to her current role at Aspen Public Radio, Terwelp was the general manager of KRCC in Colorado Springs and held programming roles at NPR affiliates in Pittsburgh and Chicago.

She replaces current president and CEO Neil Best, who intended to retire at the end of last year after 48 years with the station. He first began at the station in 1973 as a news announcer and later news director before eventually becoming CEO in 2009.

He remained at the post for a little longer than expected due to delays in the hiring process.

In an interview with BizWest, Terwelp said she has worked often with KUNC staffers as part of an ongoing alliance between the stations. That existing connection made the job appealing, as well as the opportunity to keep afloat the tradition of public service that Best promoted during his decades with the station.

“I was 1 year old when he started, that’s a legacy,” she said. “He has a legacy not only truly for the people of Northern Colorado, but also in the bigger NPR system and the bigger public radio system. It is big shoes to fill.”

BizWest is a news partner with KUNC and appears weekly Wednesdays on the station’s daily news program “Colorado Edition.”

© 2021 BizWest Media LLC

on Facebook on LinkedIn