August 13, 2009

Press Contact:

Karen Frascona

617.300.5465

WGBH radio producer/host Brian O’Donovan takes on business development role

WGBH announced today that Brian O’Donovan, producer and host of WGBH 89.7’s popular A Celtic Sojourn is taking on an additional role as the public broadcaster’s new Director of Business Development.
O’Donovan will continue his Celtic Sojourn activities while helping WGBH identify and execute new opportunities, business partnerships, and community connections. The native of Ireland has produced and hosted A Celtic Sojourn for the past 23 years, a program that explores traditional and contemporary music from the Celtic countries and England. The show has grown to its current three-hour slot on Saturday afternoons, and internationally on wgbh.org’s 24/7 Celtic Sojourn stream.
“While many of us know Brian as our guide to Celtic music, his business background is unique,” says WGBH Executive Vice President Ben Godley. “Brian has built one of our largest and most loyal listenerships, while also developing the brand with live Celtic concerts and our Guest Street Sessions. Simultaneously, he’s had a successful career as an executive in professional sports and event management. It gives us particular satisfaction to have someone in this new position who already is part of the WGBH family with such extensive experience and connections.”
O’Donovan’s career in professional sports spanned from 1984-2001, as he served as General Manager of Foxboro Stadium, Vice President of Event Management with the New England Patriots, and was the New England Revolution’s first-ever Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. He also has produced large-scale music festivals and entertainment events, both internationally and in New England.
“Since interning at WGBH during graduate school, the Foundation has held a special appeal for me,” said O’Donovan. “Even as commercial broadcasting has expanded dramatically over the past 20 years, so has my passion for the mission of high quality public broadcasting – especially in the curatorial and community oriented traditions of WGBH. I am excited to have the opportunity to bring my skills and experience to help develop new public events, business partnerships, community connections, and a renewed sense of how we can make a difference.”

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O’Donovan first came to the United States as part of a work-exchange program in 1976 and graduated from University College Cork in 1978 and completed graduate studies at Emerson College in 1984.
About WGBH

WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcaster, producing such celebrated national PBS series as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning primetime, lifestyle and children’s series. Boston’s last remaining independent TV station, WGBH produces local TV productions (among them, Greater Boston, Basic Black and María Hinojosa: One-on-One) that focus on the region’s diverse community, while WGBH 89.7 FM is Boston’s NPR Arts & Culture station, offering a rich menu of classical, jazz, blues, news programming and more. WGBH is the leading producer of online content for pbs.org—one of the most-visited dot-org sites on the Internet—a major producer for public radio and a pioneer in developing educational multimedia and new technologies that make media accessible for people with disabilities. For its efforts, WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors, including Oscars, Emmys, Peabodys and duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards. Visit WGBH on the Web at

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