Bruce L. Christensen, President, KSL to be BEA Keynote Speaker for 2004 Convention

Washington, DC - Bruce Christensen will be the Broadcast Education Association’s 49th Annual Convention Keynote Speaker on Saturday, April 17, 2004, 10:30 -11:45 AM, in the Las Vegas Hilton, Ballroom A.

Bruce Christensen assumed his duties on the Bonneville senior staff in May of 2000. Christensen joined Bonneville after completing a seven-year assignment as Dean of Brigham Young University’s College of Fine Arts and Communications. His Bonneville responsibilities include oversight for corporate development of new media and technology, including digital TV and radio broadcast transmissions, Internet, information systems, and networks.

Before Christensen was named Dean of BYU, he served for nearly ten years as President and CEO of the nation’s Public Broadcasting Service in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining PBS, he was President and CEO of the National Association of Public Televisions in Washington, D.C. (1982-1984). His media activities before moving to Washington included those of Director of Media Services and General Manager of KUED-TV and KUER-FM at the University of Utah (1979-1982), and Director of Broadcast Services and General Manger at KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM (1972-1979). He began his broadcasting career as a news reporter at Bonneville station KSL, Salt Lake City, in 1965. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Utah (B.A.) and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (M.S.J.). Christensen was a member of the Board of Directors of Bonneville International Corporation from 1996 to 2000.

Bonneville International Corporation is a nationwide broadcast group with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company owns and operates divisions in the following cities: Chicago, Illinois (WLUP-FM, WNND-FM, WTMX-FM, WDRV-FM); San Francisco, California (KOIT-FM/AM, KDFC-FM, KKDV-FM); Washington, D.C. (WGMS-FM, WROP-FM/AM, WWZZ-FM, WWVZ-FM, WXTR-AM, WTOP2-Internet Radio); Salt Lake City, Utah (KSL-AM, KSL-TV, Bonneville Duplications, Bonneville Communications, Bonneville Satellite); and St. Louis, Missouri (WIL-FM, WSSM-FM, WVRV-FM, WRTH-AM).

BEA is a 49 year old, worldwide higher education association for professors and industry professionals who teach college students studying broadcasting & electronic media for careers in the industry and the academy. BEA has 1,200 individual, institutional & industry members, as well as an additional 1,200 subscribers to its scholarly journals, the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media and the Journal of Radio Studies.

BEA holds an annual convention with over 1,100 attendees and 160 educational sessions, technology demonstrations & workshops, and educational exhibits just before the National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio & Television News Directors conventions, in the same venue. BEA also offers over 15 scholarships for college students studying at BEA member institutions. Information about BEA can be found at www.beaweb.org.

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