Carlson to Head Broadcast Unit

The Corp. for Public Broadcasting announced Thursday that its board of directors has chosen Ambassador Richard Carlson of San Diego as president and chief executive officer.

Carlson, 51, is former director of the Voice of America and associate director of the U.S. Information Agency. He became ambassador to the Republic of Seychelle last year. He’ll assume his new post in July.

Carlson began his career as a reporter, working for United Press International and later KGO-TV in San Francisco and KABC in Los Angeles. He became anchorman for KFMB-TV in San Diego in 1975.

In 1977, Carlson joined San Diego’s Great American Bank, where he rose to senior vice president in three years. He has had various diplomatic responsibilities during the last decade.

CPB funnels federal money to PBS, National Public Radio and local public stations. Its fate is uncertain because a bill that authorizes its funds from 1995 through 1997 is stalled in the Senate. Conservative Republicans are complaining that public broadcasting programming is biased.