By Adam Jacobson
From 1979 through 2007, he was a towering presence at WGBH, the educational radio and television outfit serving Boston and much of New England.
Now, many across the industry are paying their respects to David Liroff, who has passed away.
Jeanne Hopkins, GBH’s Vice President of Communications and Government Relations, shared the news, shared the news on Monday (5/16). Liroff died on Saturday (5/14), three weeks short of his 78th birthday.
During his 28 years with GBH, Hopkins made what Hopkins calls “enormous contributions to the advancement and growth of our operations and services, as well to the wider public broadcasting system.”
GBH Vice Chair and former President Henry Becton added, “David was my first hire when I became General Manager, and how fortunate we were. There was no one more passionate about our mission, or more vigilant to maintain the trust of our audience. David personified the best of our public media family and will be sorely missed.”
Liroff served as Broadcast Manager and Television Station Manager before taking on the CTO role. He was responsible for local TV programming and broadcasting including Say Brother, La Plaza, and The Ten O’Clock News; national “how-to” program production including This Old House, The Victory Garden, and The New Yankee Workshop; as well as engineering, information technology and audience research.
Liroff also oversaw GBH’s transition to digital production and broadcasting, facilitating the technical transition to studios at Guest Street in Brighton, Mass.
Before joining WGBH, Liroff was Director of Broadcasting at KETC-TV in St. Louis. Prior to that, he was Program Director for WOUB-20 in Athens, Ohio.
Following his departure from GBH, Liroff held the role of SVP of System Development and Media Strategy at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
He also served on the board of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), including as board vice chair for three years. “He was technologically savvy and forward thinking, and his passion and commitment for our system were instrumental in guiding our public service mission,” said APTS President and CEO, Patrick Butler.
