Chris McBride has been named president and general manager of KCBX Public Radio, the Central Coast’s NPR member station.
She succeeds Frank Lanzone, who will now serve as executive director of Live Oak Music Festival.
McBride has been with KCBX since 2023 when she was hired as development director to oversee fundraising and outreach activities for the station, including the biannual pledge drives.
The following year, she was promoted to assistant general manager to support executive leadership while simultaneously continuing her work as development director.
KCBX has been a constant part of McBride’s life well before her hire date, from listening to news and music to attending the Live Oak Music Festival with her family, she said.
KCBX has been a reliable source of important news and issues, musical discoveries, culture and connection since it was founded in 1975, and McBride said she is thrilled to be leading the team behind such an important community resource, according to the station.
“I’m excited to step into this role,” she said. “It is inspiring to see how deeply our staff, volunteers, and the Central Coast community care for and value KCBX. The station truly is a community treasure.”
“I believe Chris to be an outstanding choice to meet the expected and unexpected challenges ahead of us,” said Lanzone. Her expertise in planning, fundraising, collaborating and troubleshooting will serve KCBX well.
“Chris has also been a longstanding member of the community with deep roots in San Luis Obispo County, just like KCBX, making her a great match for this position,” Lanzone said.
Before joining the KCBX team, McBride has had a career in development, communications and marketing.
She served as director of annual giving for more than a decade at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and as the first outreach director at the Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo.
Before her professional career with the university, McBride attended Cal Poly as a student, where she graduated with a degree in business administration. She and her husband live in San Luis Obispo.
KCBX is a non-commercial public radio station that serves an average weekly audience of over 35,000 listeners in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and south Monterey counties.
The station broadcasts local and national information programming, NPR Network shows, and an eclectic music format.
KCBX FM broadcasts on 90.1 in San Luis Obispo; 91.1 in Cayucos; 95.1 in Lompoc; 91.7 from Paso Robles to Salinas; and 90.9 in Santa Ynez, Goleta, Avila Beach and Cambria. KCBX streams online at kcbx.org.
Nearly 100 percent of the financial support for KCBX comes from individual listeners/subscribers, local corporate underwriters and proceeds from the Live Oak Music Festival.
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