WETA Launches Innovative Digital and Cross-Platform Content Development Initiatives for Public Media

[January 10, 2019; Arlington, VA] – Dalton Delan, WETA Executive Vice President and Chief Programming Officer, today announced an initiative to expand digital-first content production and partnerships for public media. To head up this major endeavor, Delan has named Grace Cutler as the Senior Director of National Digital Content at WETA, effective immediately. Reporting to Delan, Cutler will work to accelerate digital innovation and cross-platform content development for WETA and the public media system.

“WETA is developing new ways to deliver narrative storytelling across emerging platforms and optimize structural shifts in the media environment, which include the use of podcasts, AI and video streaming,” said Delan. “Grace brings an unmatched depth of experience in broadcast and digital content in the news and documentary space, and will be instrumental in creating a wide range of digital and mobile platform initiatives to support current and future programming that shapes and sustains public media’s impact.”

WETA is one of the top-producing stations of new national content for public television in the United States, creating more than 350 hours of national programming annually. The Mayo Clinic: Faith - Hope - Science, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize were the latest programs to air on PBS in Fall 2018. Some previous WETA projects with innovative digital multi-platform components include a partnership with AOL on MAKERS: Women Who Make America in 2014, and implementing short film and second screen companion digital experiences for Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies in 2015.

Cutler previously served as a series producer for the WETA-produced public affairs program In Principle, broadcast nationally on PBS in Spring 2018, and has been consulting with WETA, The Hill.com and other media outlets on several digital initiatives.  In her new role, Cutler will help lead the development and implementation of WETA’s digital impact and growth related to its national broadcast productions, including a forthcoming major documentary project on mental health.

Prior to joining WETA, Cutler was the Managing Editor of News for Circa.com, and has previously worked for Fox News, CBS, CNBC and Voice of America.  She has spent over a decade in digital media, and earlier in her career worked in New York, Hong Kong and London where she produced over 40 documentaries. Cutler covered war, conflicts, and presidential campaigns and worked on award-winning investigations.  She holds a Master of Science degree in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics.  She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and author, Douglas Rogers, and their two children, Madeline and Whitaker.

For more information, please visit weta.org. Press materials and photography can be found at weta.org/press.

# # #

About WETA

WETA is the leading public broadcasting company in the nation’s capital, serving Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on WETA Television and Classical WETA 90.9 FM.  For fiscal year 2018, the company had an annual operating budget of $109 million, nearly 300 employees, and more than 125,000 contributing members. The WETA fiscal year 2019 budget is $100 million.  Classical WETA 90.9 FM brings classical music, concerts and specials to Greater Washington. As the leading PBS station in the nation’s capital, WETA Television broadcasts on four channels: WETA TV 26, WETA HD, WETA UK and WETA Kids. WETA Television celebrates the people and history of this region through programs such as WETA Around Town, WETA Extras and WETA Arts.  For national PBS audiences, WETA Washington, D.C., is one of the largest-producing stations of new content for public television in the United States, with news and public affairs programs including PBS NewsHour and Washington Week; films by Ken Burns such as The Civil War and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; and performance specials from the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. WETA creates leading public service websites such as www.ReadingRockets.org, www.LDOnline.org, www.ColorinColorado.org, www.AdLit.org and www.Brainline.org; and develops community outreach programs to engage people of all ages in the joy of lifelong learning. The WETA studios and administrative offices are located in Arlington, Virginia. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO.  More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org. On social media, visit www.facebook.com/wetatvfm on Facebook or follow @WETAtvfm on Twitter.