Telluride TV: Kenworthy Now At the Helm

11 Oct Telluride TV: Kenworthy Now At the Helm

As its new executive director, Peter Kenworthy sees live, local TV, more community involvement on the horizon for Telluride TV.

Peter Kenworthy, new ED, Telluride TV.

The Telluride TV board of directors is pleased to announce that Peter Kenworthy will join the station, also known as Telluride Community Television (TCTV), as executive director beginning October 3.

Kenworthy ran Telluride Mountainfilm as its executive director for eight years prior to departing that organization in 2014 to fulfill a dream of building his own home. He replaces Katie Karow in his new role.

“We’re so excited to have Peter on board to continue the great work that Katie has done over the last five years,” said TTV board president Len Metheny. “Peter has a proven track record in this community from his many years at Mountainfilm. We feel fortunate to engage him in helping us take the station to the next level.”

Kenworthy and Karow will work together in October prior to Karow’s official departure to ensure a seamless transition for the the non-profit, non-commercial, public access television station.

Telluride TV broadcasts to more than 900 households and lodging properties in Telluride on cable channel 12 through Time Warner Cable and 1,200 households in Mountain Village on cable channel 12 through Mountain Village Cable.

Local videos are also available to stream at www.telluridetv.org.

“What excites me the most about Telluride TV are the prospects we have for growth and development,” said Kenworthy. “There are a lot more things we can do, but Katie did a great job over the past few years paving the way for future expansion.”

Katie Karow

Among her many accomplishments over the last half-decade, Karow eliminated the station’s debt and grew its operating budget by 340 percent. She founded the Oscar Awards-style TTV Video Awards annual fundraiser; spearheaded a successful capital campaign for a media center at Telluride High School; and oversaw the completion of a new network broadcasting faciliy in Mountain Village.

In 2013, the station begain broadcasting worldwide to major network channels including CNN, Bloomberg Television, and CNBC through the LTN Global Communications network.

The Telluride Tourism Board valued the advertising exposure generated by this capability at $2.4 million in the first four months of operation.

Most recently, Karow implemented a cutting-edge education model called Cognition, which supports digital literacy classes with expert instructors and an interactive chat feature are livestreamed to the TTV Media Center.

“I am proud of our accomplishments over the past five years. When I started at Telluride TV, the station was in a dire straights. I took the job because I like a challenge and could see the potential,” Karow said.

“I am saying goodbye knowing that I accomplished the goals I set out from the beginning,  some I didn’t imagine possible. I’m relieved knowing the station will have such strong leadership moving forward, and I can’t think of a better person than Peter Kenworthy to take the helm,” she continued.

Kenworthy predicted that he will spend the first 30 days in his new role assessing the station’s strengths and weaknesses, while formulating a 5-year plan for its future. He hopes it will include a substantially larger portion of locally produced content.

“There will definitely be some changes,” he said. “I want to get more real-life programming with people from the community – the other non-profits, town businesses, and individuals. There’s no reason, with the assets we have, to not do a lot more programming both for television and online, to make TTV as vital a local resource as possible,” Kenworthy continued.

Karow is relocating with her family to the Glenwood Springs area. There, her husband, former Telluride-based Alpine Bank of Colorado regional president Andrew Karow, was named in July to the bank’s five-member executive team as its Chief Digital Officer.

“Anyone who worked with me over the past five years knows that I loved my job; I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many different people in our community,” Karow said. “I will also miss the students, board of directors, and my teammates who made me laugh every day. Goodbye Telluride and all the wonderful people here, you will always remain in my heart.”

Telluride TV provides a voice for the community through media arts education, community-based content and access to broadcasting.