TRENTON — Three members of the NJN Foundation have agreed to serve on the board of newly formed Public Media NJ, the subsidiary of WNET that runs NJTV, and have pledged to combine efforts to support the new broadcasting operation. Anthony Bastardi, chairman of the foundation and CEO of Strategic Development Group; Thomas Bracken, the foundation’s vice chairman and...
Dennis Bone in this 2010 Star-Ledger file photo. Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey, will serve on the board of Public Media N.J. along with two other members of the NJN Foundation.TRENTON — Three members of the NJN Foundation have agreed to serve on the board of newly formed Public Media NJ, the subsidiary of WNET that runs NJTV, and have pledged to combine efforts to support the new broadcasting operation.
Anthony Bastardi, chairman of the foundation and CEO of Strategic Development Group; Thomas Bracken, the foundation’s vice chairman and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce; and Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey, will join Josh Weston, Liz Thomas and Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET, on the board of Public Media NJ. The announcement was made by WNET, the New York public broadcaster.
The foundation raised more than $100 million for NJTV’s predecessor, New Jersey Network, during the last 20 years.
The three foundation officials signed a "memorandum of understanding" to share board members with Public Media NJ and to collaborate in fund-raising, governance and the creation of New Jersey-centric programming, according to the announcement.
"We’re excited about having the support of the Foundation, which has for years supported public media in New Jersey," Shapiro, who serves as chairman of Public Media NJ, said in a statement.
The top priority of the alliance will be the building the new daily news program, he said. NJTV is hiring staff and searching for New Jersey studios for "NJ Today," the nightly public affairs program that is scheduled for launch this fall.
The network currently is broadcasting "NJ Today: Summer Edition" featuring headlines of the day and lengthy one-on-one interviews with politicians, journalists and civic and governmental leaders.
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