Florida Institute of Technology AAA 89.5 WFIT Melbourne FL has promoted Program Director Stephen Yasko to General Manager.
Yasko previously served as General Manager of Towson University’s AAA 89.7 WTMD Baltimore from 2002 to 2015. He joined WFIT in September 2022 after previously serving as Interim President/GM and Director of Content and Audience Engagement at Public News/Talk 90.7 WMFE Orlando. Prior to WTMD, Yakso held roles as a Producer at WAMU Washington’s Diane Rehm Show, Manager of Program Services for NPR, and National Program Manager for Pacifica Radio.
Stephen Yasko, a radio veteran with experience at major national operations such as NPR and Pacifica and the founding general manager at Towson University’s WTMD, has been named general manager of Florida Tech’s FM public radio station, WFIT 89.5.
Since October 2022, Yasko has served as WFIT’s program manager. He will succeed Terri Wright, who has served as GM at WFIT for 25 years. She will remain at the station in a part-time capacity.
“Coming from a major market and one of the leading AAA stations in the country, Steve brings a wealth of experience to WFIT, and we are very fortunate to have him,” Wright said, alluding to the “adult album alternative” format featured at WFIT.
A 25-year veteran of public media, Yasko said he is excited to grow the community connections that have been a hallmark of WFIT for decades.
“WFIT is true asset to the Space Coast Community and Florida Tech. The station is a rare gem in the greater public radio community because it relies on the input and dedication of a vast assemblage of listeners, members and volunteers and the philanthropic and business communities to a degree not often found in the media landscape today,” he said. “We’re going to extend our commitment to the community by engaging with nonprofit organizations that enhance the quality of life on the Space Coast and support the musicians and artists contributing to our very special Central Florida culture.”
A native of New Jersey and graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., Yasko spent 13 years as general manager and executive director at WTMD, the station at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Under his guidance, the station saw a 10-fold increase in revenues and a major strengthening of community, donor and listener engagement.
“It suddenly dawned on me that what we were doing with WTMD was increasing the quality of life in Baltimore. I’ve always had a passion for leaving the world a little bit better than where I found it,” he said.
Before WTMD, Yasko served as marketing director and producer on The Diane Rehm Show, a nationally syndicated program on NPR originating at American University’s radio station, WAMU. He spent the next five years as program operations manager and marketing manager at National Public Radio before a two-year stint as national program director at Pacific Radio Foundation. He began at Towson in 2002.
Yasko came to Florida in 2019 to serve as director of content and audience development at the NPR affiliate in Orlando, WMFE.
With about two dozen volunteer DJs from across the Space Coast, WFIT puts the “community” in community radio. But there is room for more, Yasko said. He is interested in boosting student involvement.
That could mean interning or volunteering at the station, just hanging out, or stopping by to pick through the piles of CDs the station is giving away.
“While Florida Tech is an engineering school, a lot of the students love music as much as they love aeronautics,” he said. “We’d love to bring more of them into what we do.”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com