Former Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton has landed at Southern California Public Radio’s KPCC, the company announced Tuesday.
Stanton will serve as the stations’ vice president of content, overseeing both its broadcasts, its online news and its live events programming.
SCPR President and CEO Bill Davis said hiring Stanton was part of an effort by KPCC to extend its influence in Southern California by providing “deeper, more enterprising and investigative coverage.”
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"I am very excited to be joining the staff of my favorite radio station and in particular a newsroom that's growing and an organization that's fairly down the path of developing a sustainable business model to produce high-quality," Stanton told his new employer.
Stanton still has to choose an executive editor, who will oversee the day-to-day operations of the newsroom.
The former L.A. Times editorial chief will be charged with integrating the newsroom’s efforts across all platforms – including live events — and Davis said he thought the former editor “has some strong insights on how to expand digital audiences.”
Stanton left the L.A. Times in late December in what was regarded as a mutual decision. He was a divisive figure in the newsroom as he oversaw massive cuts to the staff while trying to better transition the paper's content to the web.
The Times did improve the traffic to its website significantly in 2011, topping 17 million unique visitors a month. However, sources at the paper have confirmed to TheWrap that a similar growth in digital revenue has yet to occur.
He became the fifth editor to depart in less than a decade, and the fifth to do so with more staff cuts on the horizon.