NICK MORRISON NAMED KPLU PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

(Seattle/Tacoma, WA) - Long-time KPLU program host, producer, and former Music Director Nick Morrison will add one more designation to his KPLU resume: that of Production Director.

Morrison inhabits the newly-created position beginning September 2, 2008. He is charged with overseeing and contributing to KPLU's talent pool of producers, writers, and on-air staff who create and produce content for KPLU and its all-jazz webstream, Jazz24. Recalling Morrison's previous 18-year tenure working full-time at KPLU, his appointment as Production Director marks a significant homecoming.

In 1987, Morrison took a temporary on-air job at KPLU, which evolved into something more vital than he ever anticipated. Not only did he become an integral voice on the station, but as KPLU Music Director, he helped establish an identity for KPLU as one of the premier jazz stations in the world. His contributions also helped KPLU achieve one of the most listened-to webstreams worldwide. Morrison was responsible for bringing a number of up-and-coming new artists to the attention of an international jazz audience, including Diana Krall and Norah Jones. During his 18 years at KPLU, Morrison was the recipient of many industry awards, including being named Jazz Radio Person of the Year in 2000 at the Gavin Radio conference.

In 2005, Morrison left KPLU to be the morning drive host on KWJZ/Seattle and returned to KPLU in the fall of 2006 as part-time program host. Since then, he has also contributed news commentaries to KPLU, one of which garnered an award from the Western Washington Society of Professional Journalists, and has hosted a number of live performances from KPLU's Seattle studios. In addition to his Production Director duties, Morrison will continue to fill in as a program host on KPLU, and he'll soon be one of the voices heard on Jazz24.

"When I left KPLU a couple of years ago after working there for 18 years, I sort of felt like I was running away from home to look for treasure," says Morrison. "Like most folks who do that, I discovered that fortune is fickle and that most often the greatest treasures tend to reside in the home you left behind. I'm glad to be back home."