Alejandra Santamaria named president, CEO of LAist and Southern California Public Radio

Alejandra Santamaria

Alejandra Santamaria, who most recently served as interim president, general manager and VP, director of sales for Univision Los Angeles, has been selected as new president and chief executive officer of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) by the SCPR board of trustees. Santamaria will join SCPR and LAist in July and succeeds CEO Herb Scannell, who recently retired from the role. SCPR operates Los Angeles’ award-winning multi-platform local journalism leader LAist, which includes LAist 89.3, LAist.com and the podcast arm, LAist Studios. The organization also has found success creating community-facing experiential events.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Santamaria brings a deep knowledge of the local media landscape and a strong track record of leading revenue generating initiatives across multiple news platforms including television, radio and digital properties.

"Los Angeles is my home and I am thrilled to lead one of the premier mission driven organizations serving my community. My career has been aligned with a media organization that has meant a lot to me because of their mission to empower, educate and inform Latinos like my own family," said Santamaria. "I am ready to bring those skills and passion to LAist. The reporting LAist is doing is some of the best in the world. Now it’s our job to shine a brighter light on great reporting and continue to be a resource for Angelenos."

Added Drew Murphy, SCPR board chair, said: "Alex is the leader LAist needs today and for the future. Public radio remains a vital, important part of the Los Angeles media ecosystem and we are confident that her experience and talent is ideal to shepherd us forward, helping us to deliver on our mission, while remaining financially sound, in order to continue our role as an essential resource for our community."

In her role at Univision, Santamaria ran sales and operations for Univision’s flagship local television station KMEX, UniMas KFTR, KLVE-FM, KSCA-FM, KRCD/V-FM and KTNQ-AM radio stations and a suite of digital properties in the Los Angeles market.

Santamaria has three decades of experience in the media industry. She also served as the president and general manager of Univision Arizona where she led all stations operations, and sales initiatives and digital marketing solutions for the companies local TV, radio and digital properties based in Phoenix for the entire state of Arizona. Santamaria is the founding member of Univision's Women’s Leadership Council (WLC), an employee resource group designed to prepare the next generation of women leaders. She was also part of the group’s steering committee. She most recently served on the boards of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation. Previous boards she served on include the Arizona-Mexico Commission, Arizona Broadcasters Association and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

About Southern California Public Radio (SCPR):

Southern California Public Radio (laist.com) is a member-supported multi-platform public media organization that has garnered more than 500 journalistic honors since 1999. Recognized as a national leader in public service journalism and community engagement, SCPR’s flagship radio station, LAist 89.3, is LA’s #1 NPR station. The network’s five stations (LAist 89.3, LAist 89.1 KUOR-FM, LAist 90.3 KVLA-FM, LAist 89.5 KJAI-FM and LAist 89.9 Santa Barbara) deliver award-winning local stories to the communities of the region, including a robust slate of signature programs from NPR, APM, the BBC and PRI.

LAist is a brand committed to serve audiences in Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire. Its award-winning work reaches more than seven million people per month on LAist.com and social media platforms. In 2019, the brand grew to include LAist Studios (www.laiststudios.com), a dedicated podcast development and production studio. Furthering SCPR’s commitment to premium on-demand audio storytelling, podcasts from LAist Studios aim to reflect the ethos of Los Angeles — a forward-looking community built upon unmatched diversity, inclusion and drive — going beyond geographical borders to connect with listeners around the globe who share the LA state of mind.