Death of Jim Russell Underscores the Urgency of Preserving Public Radio Voices

According to a post on Russell family CaringBridge webpage, Jim Russell died on September 13, 2022. Here is more from the CaringBridge page:

Journal entry by Jennifer Sturgeon — Sep 13, 2022

Our Dad passed peacefully today at UNC Hospice. He did not struggle in his final stages, seemingly welcoming the long sleep.

It probably won’t surprise many of you that our Dad kept his sense of humor until the very end — months prior to his passing he added to his health care directive that he’d like all flags in the United States to be flown at half mast.

I will let others talk about his achievements, but I do want to say Jim was a leader who believed in the public/private partnership. I worked with Jim in the 1990s when General Electric because the major private funder for Marketplace. Jim was the person who made the relationship happen.

Jim hoped to be part of the Public Radio Oral History Project. We talked a few times since the project was launched last spring.

Jim Russell was a true American media pioneer and innovator who brings good things to life. The loss of Jim means we have lost a connection to our history.

Because of the need to preserve this priceless first-hand history before it is too late, public radio consultant and blogger Ken Mills and his partners have organized the Public Radio Oral History Project.

Mills and his partners — Nevada Public Radio, Mike Starling and Ernie Sanchez — plan to interview 50 founders and builders of the public radio system.

The Public Radio Oral History Project will focus solely on public radio. Since the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, public television has received most of the attention and funding, sometimes to the detriment of public radio.