Wisconsin Public Radio has contracted with the National Educational Telecommunications Association to provide executive consultation and leadership for the network. Tom Luljak, recently retired vice chancellor for university relations and communications at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will serve until a national search can be completed for a permanent director. He takes over from Mike Crane who stepped down on Oct. 1.
“We are grateful to NETA for their support services during this period of transition,” said Educational Communications Board Executive Director Marta Bechtol. “We are excited to be working with Tom, who brings a wealth of experience in broadcast journalism, strategic communications and management. In addition to sustaining WPR’s essential service to the state, he will help our leadership team plan for the future and recruit a new, full-time director in 2022,” she said.
Luljak started his career in communications as a student at UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh where he worked at the student radio stations WLSU and WRST. Both of those stations are now affiliated with WPR’s statewide network. During his professional broadcast career Luljak served as news director for WTMJ-AM and WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee where he won a prestigious Peabody Award for investigative journalism.
“Tom also has more than two decades of leadership experience within the University of Wisconsin system,” Wisconsin Public Media Interim Director Heather Reese said. “That means he’s uniquely positioned to support both the mission of the station and its wonderful relationship with the university.”
