NPR has hired a new chief content officer less than two weeks after overhauling its newsroom. Nadine Zylstra is tasked with expanding audiences for the public radio network's news, entertainment and music in an increasingly digital world.
Zylstra comes to NPR from Pinterest, where she was the global programming chief. She previously was the global head of YouTube Originals and a top programming executive for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit parent and producer of Sesame Street. She currently sits on the board of directors of PBS SoCal.
A native of South Africa, Zylstra says her first job in the U.S. was as a producer for the cable music channel VH-1 on celebrity news and wanted something different. She has since been hailed for her work promoting understanding across racial and ethnic divides for Sesame Street and programs for women at YouTube.
"I really feel like I've been training for this job my whole life," Zylstra says in an interview. "I really do care about making the world a better place. When I am at my best, it's when that connection between what I do and what I care about really comes together."
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher praised Zylstra, noting her work at Sesame and Pinterest's reputation as a rare corner of relative kindness in the often harsh world of social media.
"In Nadine, we found somebody who comes out of public media... who understands the importance of media with a mission and a purpose, and as a tool for civic engagement," says Maher in an interview. She says Zylstra will evaluate NPR's portfolio of broadcast shows and podcasts in terms of whether they are fully reaching and serving audiences, and what might be missing from NPR's offerings.
Additionally, Maher says, Zylstra understands the role of "joy and humor" in NPR's programming, and how to create fresh content for new audiences as habits shift rapidly.
Zylstra will start in July and be based at NPR's Culver City, Calif., office but come to NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. at least once a month.
Gary Knell, a former chief executive of Sesame Workshop and NPR, calls Zylstra a dynamic figure who attracts brilliant colleagues.
"She's a creative magnet for talent," Knell says. "She has positive vibes."
Knell says Zylstra came to work at Sesame in New York City after she collaborated with the company to develop a multiracial children's show in her native South Africa. She later helped to create shows in tough spots, such as Kosovo, for the production company.
"I would imagine this is an NPR move to bring in someone who is very familiar with social media platforms and YouTube content and is very able to drive content," Knell says.
Pivotal moment for public media
Zylstra will oversee the leaders of NPR's newsroom, music department, podcasts and related departments. But Maher stresses that Zylstra will not be involved in news decisions. While NPR Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans will report to Zylstra on strategic matters, he will remain in charge of the journalism, Maher says. He will also remain part of Maher's executive cabinet.
"I felt as though NPR's journalism is rock solid and we've got great editorial leadership, and it was not probably the place where we needed additional layers," Maher says. "I wanted someone who was really thinking about the expansiveness of public media's mission and how we serve our audiences, how we encourage the innovations."
NPR remains one of the most prestigious and wide-reaching outlets in broadcast news. More than 42 million people rely on it each week, on all its platforms, though that figure represents a drop from previous levels.
It continues to win awards for its news coverage, often conducted in concert with member stations around the country. NPR's Planet Money has just spun off a best-selling book. NPR's video series Tiny Desk Concert has 12 million subscribers on YouTube alone. The network created a weekly radio show around it and sold the rights to the format in Japan and South Korea.
Maher recently landed a pair of gifts totalling more than $113 million to improve NPR's tech and distribution channels, strengthen its ties with member stations and market itself more effectively.
And yet, this is a daunting moment for NPR. Broadcast audiences are down throughout commercial and public media. News fatigue has set in. While NPR remains a top podcast producer, it lost its preeminent slot as iHeartRadio created hundreds of podcasts simply by repackaging all its radio shows. And then there's the political backdrop.
President Trump and his allies have rallied supporters by accusing NPR and PBS of bias, a charge the networks deny. Last summer, the Republican-led Congress pulled funding from public media at Trump's urging.
Before that happened, NPR received between 1 to 2% of its annual budget directly from the federal government. Its member stations had relied far more heavily on federal funds; They were, on average, roughly 10% of the stations' revenues.
After losing the funds, layoffs rippled through public media. And because local public radio stations pay NPR to broadcast its shows, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, NPR recently determined it must cut about 30 newsroom positions through buyouts and layoffs. Greater cuts were forestalled in part by an anonymous $33 million gift — one of the two announced earlier this year.
The ferocity of changes buffeting the media industry is an opportunity Zylstra says she intends to embrace.
"Part of what's exciting about the moment is putting the user at the center of the experience," Zylstra says.
NPR's track record with chief content officers
The position of chief content officer has a choppy record at NPR. Kinsey Wilson, an innovator in online news, was the first to hold the role nearly two decades ago. Wilson urged NPR to invest in digital content, acknowledging consumption of broadcast news was sliding.
Shortly after becoming NPR's CEO in 2014, Jarl Mohn eliminated the job. He said at the time that he wanted to quell tensions between the radio and digital sides of the public media network. He also thought it important to strengthen relationships more directly with listeners. Mohn made clear he would be his own chief strategist.
His successor, the late John Lansing, sought to revive the chief content officer position but NPR struggled to fill the role. In 2023, Lansing named Edith Chapin, then NPR's editor in chief, to become acting chief content officer, as well.
Chapin stepped down last summer just days after the Congressional vote to undo more than a half-century of supporting public media. She said the burden of simultaneously performing two grueling top-level jobs for two years had ground her down.
The way Zylstra sees it, content creation and distribution must go hand in glove.
"If somebody is searching for you, you've got to be there. And all the same, you've got to understand why are you there. How does that fulfill your mission? Who are you making this for and how are they experiencing it?" she says. "I think that's how I can help our teams connect the dots across their individual workstreams that move us forward."
Disclosure: This story was written and reported by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editors Vickie Walton-James and Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
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