KIRO FM News Director - Bonneville Seattle

Our company is committed to being trusted voices of light and truth reaching hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Who We Are

At Bonneville International, our purpose is to build up, connect, inform, and celebrate communities and families in the markets we serve. As an integrated media company, we provide content, advertising, and digital marketing solutions across 23 radio stations in Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle, along with the NBC Affiliate TV station, KSL-TV 5, in Salt Lake. We are responsible for lifting and inspiring with respect and giving voice to all the communities and clients we serve.

We believe that empowering our employees to share their ideas and experiences will fuel creativity, innovation, and inspiration. A diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial to our ability to create and deliver exceptional content, products, and services that represent our communities. We’re proud of our history and we want talented people to join us as we continue to grow!

To learn more about Bonneville and how our local media matters, visit: https://bonneville.com/

Position Overview

Bonneville Seattle is seeking a full-time News Director to lead our heritage brand, KIRO FM, to an innovative new frontier!

Do you have strong journalism and editorial skills? Are you enthusiastic about leading a strong news team? Are you driven to share information and serve communities?

Qualified candidates are able to provide vision, direction, standards and guidance for all reporting, gathering, writing, production and presentation of news via Bonneville Seattle’s radio stations and digital sites including MyNorthwest.com. The News Director will oversee the news team (editors, anchor, reporters, writers) and also collaborate with radio show hosts, programming management, and digital media management to ensure that our news product fits and complements the radio stations and digital platforms. The News Director will help ensure the teams exceed the Company’s goals by delivering the highest quality news content and the highest degree of effectiveness in service to the community; maximizing Nielsen ratings and digital audience metrics; and responsibly managing the company’s resources. This role works in concert with the vision and standards set forth by the Director of News and Talk Programming.  

Note:  Work configurations are subject to change based on business needs and at company discretion.

• This position is primarily an onsite role that requires the employee to regularly be able to work at our Seattle site.

What You Will Do:

Primary job duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the planning, gathering and presentation of news content for KIRO Newsradio. 
• Serve as editor-in-chief for news reporting on radio and digital platforms to maintain standards of relevancy, accuracy, ethics, writing and presentation, and deadline requirements.  

• Ensure that news reporting is responsive to and contributes to the shows on a regular basis. 
• Cultivate distinct news brand identities for KIRO by identifying the specific types of news stories, angles, styles and techniques each should specialize in. Ensure that our news team understands and delivers on the brand expectation. 

• Provide editorial vision and voice, and day-to-day direction for the news team including story selection, presentation, tools and resources, and staffing. 
• Design, implement, and continually evolve a news workflow which maximizes use of all available resources, and consistently delivers a product which fits our strategic vision for KIRO.
• Contribute to the on-air execution of news stories as reporter or anchor as needed.  
• Create and maintain a culture of collaboration, innovation, excellence and team in the newsroom. 
• Supervise news personnel including reporters, anchors, editors and news content producers.  Includes recruitment, training, scheduling, assignments, coaching, goal setting and performance feedback. Nurture, motivate, coach, inspire the team and ensure all teammates receive continual feedback.   
• Serve as the primary planner, manager and editor for major breaking news and emergency coverage. 
• Operate at efficient cost within the budget projections.  Develop and manage programming department financial plan. 
• Help to coordinate research projects and interpret findings as they apply to program refinements. 
• Have a clear understanding of the importance of not only audio, but also video content to be distributed on our digital platforms.  

Skills and Experience We Are Looking For:

• Three years’ experience in a daily news operation with frequent deadlines and a multi-tiered staff including reporters, editor, producers and others.
• Proven experience in developing news audience across multiple distribution channels.
• Thorough knowledge of journalism techniques, ethics, legal issues and functions of newsroom positions.
• Ability to provide direction, organization, creativity and strategy regarding story selection, writing and presentation of news for radio and digital media.
• Able to regularly monitor station for quality control and presentation consistency; ensure station's on-air production compliance with FCC guidelines and company standards; assure all commercial, public service and promotion material prepared by KIRO’s production department for on-air use and/or sales presentation meets station's desired standards.  Establish procedures to assure commercial material sent to station for airing does not detract from station's program philosophy/format and meets legal requirements.
• Ability to achieve cooperation of all departments involved with the execution of on-air presentation.
• Able to innovate format elements to stay ahead of the competition and obtain optimum ratings in Nielsen.
• Have excellent knowledge of Nielsen methodology, reporting and resources.
• Demonstrated ability to nurture, motivate, coach, inspire team and deliver feedback.
• Proven ability to handle stress and multi-task.

• Ability to consistently work hours required.  Works more when required to meet deadlines including weekends, evenings, etc.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelors’ degree in communication, journalism, or related field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of newsroom management experience
• 2+ On-air experience in reporting or anchoring

Physical Demands

• Receive, process, and maintain information through oral and/or written communication effectively.
• Manual dexterity and fine motor skills to operate computer keys and general office equipment. Ability to work on a computer for prolonged periods of time.
• Sit and/or stand for extended periods of time.
• Maintain a valid driver’s license and clean driving record; proven ability to safely drive personal vehicle without exposing company to serious liability risks.
• In breaking news situations, ability to walk up to two miles.
• Life, move, and carry up to 20 pounds on occasion.

Compensation Range

$70,000 - $135,000, plus bonus potential.

Salary rate will be determined by an evaluation of the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant along with internal and external benchmarks.

What We Offer You: Check Out Our Bonneville Benefits!

Employees at Bonneville can enjoy a broad offering of benefits, including:

• Robust, affordable medical, dental and vision coverage with no wait period for enrollment
• 401(k) with Company match and employer-funded retirement account, both fully vested from day one
• Paid leave for new parents under our Medical Maternity (8 weeks) and Parental Leave (8 weeks) benefits
• Opportunities to apply for tuition reimbursement
• Paid time off for vacation (120 hours accrued per year) and sick leave (80 hours accrued per year) in addition to 12 paid company holidays per year
• Paid time off for volunteering (40 hours per year)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services
• Access to an entire team of free financial planners
• Matches on contributions to charitable organizations after one year of service
• Continuous growth and development opportunities
• Dynamic team culture that values teamwork, having fun, and collaboration

Bonneville is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law. Minority/female/disability PWDNET/veteran are encouraged to apply.