RFB&D's Santa Barbara Unit Names New Executive Director

Tim Owens has been a long time producer and programming manager in public broadcasting before joining the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic in Santa Barbara as its new Executive Director. For the past two and a half years, Owens has worked with Marketplace Productions in Los Angeles as a Senior Producer to develop a new weekend magazine radio called Weekend America for public radio stations throughout the U.S. The service, now ready for an October launch, is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Minnesota Public Radio.

"The ship has been built and is ready for launch," says Owens. "And, I'm excited to return to Santa Barbara and tackle a new set of opportunities and challenges for the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. I hope to build on the work of my predecessors and touch even more people with this incredible service that literally changes people's lives!"

Prior to Weekend America, Owens served as the Executive Producer for NPR's Jazz Programming (1997-2002), supervising the production of NPR's Jazz Profiles with singer Nancy Wilson, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazz From Lincoln Center, and Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center. He was the producer for Jazz Smithsonian (1993-1999), a series hosted by singer Lena Horne for Public Radio International. Other productions have included a radio companion series for Ken Burns's PBS miniseries Jazz (2001) and Baseball (1992); and the Jazz Alive! series for NPR (1977-83). Owens co-produced the PBS Jazz in America series (1982) and has produced news and cultural programs for NPR, the CBC, and the BBC, as well as jazz concerts in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, UCLA's Royce Hall, Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York, and in numerous clubs throughout the country.

Owens was Director of Programming for the NPR news and classical music formatted WETA-FM in Washington, D.C., for more than eight years (1984-1993) and left the station to form his own production company in 1993. He joined NPR full time in January 1997 as a Senior Producer. In May 2000 he was promoted to Executive Producer of NPR Jazz.

Owens' productions have twice earned him the distinguished Peabody Award (1980 and 2002), the Gracie Allen (2003) and Gabriel Awards (1986), and five medals, including the Gold Medal, from the New York Festival's International Radio Awards (1997-2000). In December 2000, Owens was the co-recipient of the President's National Medal of the Arts, awarded to the staff of NPR's Cultural Programming Division. He has also guest lectured at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara on creating "Sound Images."