Delaware Public Media marked 10 years since its streaming news service launched WDDE-FM. The public station also announced that local radio executive Julian “Pete” Booker will become general manager starting Sept. 6.
DPM president Jane C.W. Vincent will retire from her position and will focus on development.
“We are thrilled to be celebrating a decade as an essential, trusted source for Delaware news, and we are deeply grateful to the listeners, partners, donors, and program sponsors who have helped us reach this milestone,” said Randy Farmer, DPM board chair. “And we couldn’t be more excited about our future, especially now that our team includes the unparalleled combination of Pete Booker as general manager and Tom Byrne, Delaware’s dean of broadcast journalism, as news director. The board offers our thanks to Jane Vincent for her work the past five years, and we are delighted that she remains committed to DPM.”
Booker, whose radio career dates to 1969, spent 33 years at Delmarva Broadcasting Company, where he was president and CEO from 1993 until his retirement in 2015. Byrne, who has more than 30 years of experience as a Delaware broadcast journalist, has been DPM’s news director since its founding.
“As other local news outlets shrink or disappear altogether, Delaware Public Media provides a critical service as the need for locally focused, objective journalism is growing,” Booker said. “I’m looking forward to leveraging our past success into future growth.”
Founded in 2009 as a live-streamed news service, DPM acquired a radio license and, in partnership with the University of Delaware and Delaware State University, began broadcasting over 91.1 FM WDDE from studios on DSU’s Dover campus on August 17, 2012.
DPM’s programming, which blends content produced by NPR and other noncommercial media outlets with First State-specific news, features, and commentary, is also available 24/7 via delawarepublic.org.
