In April 2006, Jack Kelly was recruited to join the staff of WPBT in Miami as Vice President of Production, where he is responsible for the development of all local programming content for the station.

A 30 year veteran of broadcasting, Kelly started his career in San Francisco, where he worked as a producer for Bridge Productions and as a freelance producer/writer for KRON-TV.

He began his public broadcasting career in Beckley, WV in 1983 at WSWP Channel 9 as Senior Producer/Anchor for public affairs programming. He anchored a weekly public affairs magazine series and numerous town hall meetings. He produced Going Down the Tubes, a documentary about water issues and In the Company’s Hands, a documentary about the coal wars in southern West Virginia.

In 1987, Kelly joined WXXI Channel 12 in Rochester, NY as Executive Producer. He produced Intolerance, a special series on race relations and Drug Wars, a documentary explore the war on drugs across New York State. Kelly hosted the highly successful New York Lawn & Garden series, which was distributed to PBS stations across the state, and also created the award-winning Homework Hotline series.

In 1991, Kelly joined WILL-TV in Urbana, IL as Executive Producer for Production. During his eight year tenure there, he launched a variety of award-winning programs. In addition to his role as host of the popular Illinois Gardener series, Kelly produced a number of nationally distributed documentaries, including Vanished Rome, The Tarahumara: Pillars of the World and The Holocaust: A View from the Heartland. Around 1993, Kelly was tinkering with developing content for the internet around local productions such as Against the Wind. In 1998, he developed his first PBS hosted website for a documentary on architect Walter Burley Griffin.

Kelly was recruited by KNPB in Reno, NV in 1999 to become the Vice President of Production. His production staff provided public affairs, arts, and historical content. He created the nationally distributed series, Wild Nevada and House with a History. In 2001, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, Kelly helped to establish FocusWest, a western public affairs initiative created by three inter-mountain PBS stations. Kelly also led the station’s efforts to develop enhanced new media opportunities based on local content.

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Niagara University in New York and a Masters in Art in Theatre (Directing) from the University of Washington in Seattle. His professional work has been recognized by numerous awards including Emmy Awards, Telly Awards, Gabriel Awards and Worldfest Awards.

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