Georgia Public Broadcasting has pushed back to July 1 the scheduled debut of Chip Rogers’ new public radio show, giving the former state legislator time to work with a newly hired executive producer.
Former B98.5 FM “Morning Show” producer Jessica Forkel began this month to work with Rogers on the public broadcasting station’s new “Georgia Works,” a weekly statewide radio program focused on economic development and jobs.
The two are doing research and interviews for the show's website (www.gpb.org/blogs/georgia-works) and are working on broadcasting segments for the show, which had originally been slated for a late spring debut.
Web content includes podcasts and videos. GPB hired Rogers, a former television and radio reporter, to spearhead the new program's development and also host the show. The full program will be broadcast on GPB's 17-station radio network and will also stream live on www.gpb.org.
GPB has not disclosed Forkel’s pay, which it said would be based on experience. It is likely, however, to be much less than what Rogers gets. His $150,000-a-year salary makes him one of GPB’s highest-paid employees despite his nonexecutive job.
Once one of the state Legislature’s most visible Republican leaders, Rogers resigned in December to take what he called a “dream” job with GPB to establish Georgia Works. He was first elected to the Legislature in 2002.
While his colleagues wished him well, the move came after a series of missteps that included failing to repay a bank loan and public disclosure of his work for a sports gambling network.
GPB President Teya Ryan has said she was not pressured politically to hire Rogers, who began his career as a cable television and radio reporter in Cartersville and at one time owned a small northwest Georgia radio station where he did on-air announcing.
He also worked — under the moniker Will “The Winner” Rogers — as pitchman on cable television for a sports handicapping program.
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