Jarl Mohn named next NPR president and CEO

Jarl Mohn, the chairman of KPCC-FM (89.3) Southern California Public Radio, will be NPR’s next president and chief executive, the public radio institution said Friday. He succeeds interim President and CEO Paul G. Haaga Jr. starting in July.

Mohn is a media industry veteran. He was the founding president and CEO of the media investment company Liberty Digital, and previously ran E! Entertainment Television for almost nine years after holding a senior position at MTV and VH1.

Mohn’s background “makes him ideally suited to lead NPR as it continues to expand its reach and play a unique role in public service journalism and cultural programming,” said NPR board Chairman Kit Jensen in a statement.

Mohn takes the top job at NPR after a series of short stints by other executives. Gary Knell resigned as CEO after less than two years to become president of the National Geographic Society. He was replaced by Haaga. In 2011, Knell’s predecessor Vivian Schiller, left NPR after a senior executive was caught on video making disparaging remarks about the tea party movement.

The new appointment represents a kind of return to radio for Mohn, who began his career as a disc jockey in 1967 and was on WNBC-AM in New York in the 1970s.

“This is not a job for me. It’s a mission,” Mohn said in a statement. “I want to make sure the staff of NPR, the member stations and the others who make it happen have everything they need to do their best work.”