KUED Names Michael A. Dunn as New General Manager

Michael A. Dunn, founder of Dunn Communications, Inc, a Salt Lake City advertising agency and film production company, has been named as the new General Manager of KUED. Dunn, who officially assumes duties on May 10, 2010, succeeds Larry S. Smith, who is retiring at the end of April after 12 years in the position. Under Smith's leadership, KUED became the first recipient of the Overall Station Excellence Award from the Rocky Mountain Regional Emmy Awards. Dunn is the seventh General Manager in KUED's storied 51-year history - a legacy that includes such public broadcasting pioneers as Keith Engar, Rex Campbell, and Bruce Christensen.

Dunn, who has worked in broadcasting and media production for the past 29 years and has worked very closely with KUED as a volunteer for much of that time, was selected from more than 100 candidates and nominees from across the country. "Michael Dunn is an ideal choice as the new manager of KUED," says University of Utah Vice President for Institutional Advancement and former KUED General Manager, Fred Esplin. "His combination of media experience, understanding of the state, and his commitment to the mission of public television make him a perfect fit for the job. I am deeply grateful for the wonderful job Larry Smith has done in leading the station and I am confident that Michael Dunn is ideally qualified to continue that great tradition."

Dunn, an Emmy award-winning writer, director and producer, served for six years as a senior writer and producer for Bonneville Communications, where he worked on the highly acclaimed Homefront campaign for the LDS Church. He spent eight years with Fotheringham & Associates. Prior to that, he worked in radio at KALL and as a television reporter at KUTV in Salt Lake City. He earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Communication from the University of Utah.

He has received gold and silver medals from the New York Film Festival, several ADDY's from the American Advertising Federation, and four CLIOs - an award considered the "Oscar" of the advertising industry. He also garnered two Emmy nominations, one of which earned the Emmy Award for public service in 1992 from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He was the recipient of the 2000 Advertising Professional of the Year Award from the American Advertising Federation, Utah Chapter.

Dunn's association with KUED began in 1984 when he was asked to help with the station's on-air fund drive. For 25 years he has been a regular volunteer host during fund drives. "I appear so regularly that people who don't know me well just assume that I work for KUED," he says. "I often am asked by people, 'How are things at the station?' Now I can tell them."

Dunn has also served on KUED's Advisory Board and has written and produced several documentary films in conjunction with the station, including Shared Vision, In Those Days and Flagship in the Desert.

"Through all those experiences of the past quarter century, I fell in love with the unique mandate, message, and, most of all, magic that is public television," he says. "Today, KUED is one of the most viable and admired stations in the PBS system with a cumulative audience of a million viewers each week. Between carrying the full complement of PBS programming and its award-winning local documentaries, it's no surprise that KUED is the 16th most watched PBS station in the country. From the day it signed on in January of 1958, it has been unwavering in its commitment to being the best television has to offer. I'm both awed and overjoyed by this opportunity to help grow and expand KUED as it speeds into the digital age."

Dunn and his wife Linda, who is the director of the University of Utah Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, have three children, Jeff, Brady and Emily.

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New KUED GM, Michael A. Dunn
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