After months of a very thorough and nationwide search for KFAI’s next general manager,
the Board of Directors announced the hiring of Daniel Banks as the next station leader. He will
start Monday, August 3.
Banks comes to KFAI with a background in cultural nonprofits, local radio, and fostering
community. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, he grew up listening to the unique mix of
programs coming from the abundance of the college and community radio stations in the city.
These models inspired him to launch his own show on WBOR 91.1 FM once at Bowdoin
College in Brunswick, Maine. His investment in this program—“the best hour of his week, every
week”—inspired him to join the station’s staff, holding positions as a music director and concert
director before finally ascending to the office of station manager.
In this position, Banks found that the power of radio to connect people and communities
was one absolutely worth pursuing.
Parallel to this experience at WBOR, Banks exercised his active passion for the arts with
work across the cultural sector in museums, music venues, and volunteer community
organizations. Culminating with a Fulbright grant in Berlin, Germany, where he investigated the
arts scene and wrote for a music publication, this connection to the arts is something that Banks
feels is inseparable from his spirit.
KFAI hopes to reap the benefits of Bank’s appetite for the arts and reassert the station’s age-
old place in the Twin Cities’ cultural scene.
“We had a very talented pool of applicants for this position and were excited to thoroughly
vet our long list of prospective candidates,” said Board President Jacque Pokorney. “We are
excited to offer Daniel this position of General Manager at KFAI. To us, he represents our hope
for the future of KFAI, honoring our past but also looking to our future vision in the Twin Cities
media and music scene.”
—Information and photo provided by KFAI.