REBECCA MAGURA

With over 30 years of experience in production, educational outreach and management at public television station, WCTE, Becky Magura brings to any project a level of commitment necessary for success.  She resides in Cookeville, TN and serves on numerous regional & national boards.

She holds a BS degree from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville and a MA degree in Education, with an emphasis in Communications.  She has years of experience in television production as an on-air host, producer, and videographer.  In 2006, Magura became WCTE’s fourth General Manager and has led the station team through digital transition in transmission and production.  She is also currently serving as the Chair of the National Educational Telecommunications Association’s Executive Board.

She was the recipient of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth’s Media Award for the work she produced entitled, Robbin Esther’s Secret Box.  In addition, this series on child sexual abuse won the NETA Best Instructional Series in 2002 and was nominated for a regional Emmy.  It was nationally distributed through NETA and GPN.  Robbin Esther’s Secret Box continues to be recognized for its’ educational and social value.

Magura supervised and project directed WCTE’s first international productions,Change of Heart: Ryan Dalton and the Street Children of Cape Town and Tree Safari: A Sculptural Journey, in association with independent producer, Todd Jarrell.  Tree Safari:  The Koa Connection, shot on location in Hawaii, is the latest documentary with Todd Jarrell.  Both of these award winning shows are in national distribution.   

She also served as the station liaison for Todd Jarrell’s documentary, CRANK: Darkness on the Edge of Town, funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through Independent Television Service (ITVS) LiNCS grant.  CRANK:  Darkness on the Edge of Town, is distributed for national broadcast through American Public Television and the recipient of 10 national awards, including a regional Emmy.  Jarrell’s work, Tuba U:  Brasso Profundo, received WCTE’s first PBS primetime feed and two other documentaries by Jarrell are in line for national distribution.   Magura also served as the project director for an NSF / PBS pilot project to produce for the PBS Digital Learning Library in association with producer, Todd Jarrell and TTU NSF Grantees, Dr. Barry Stein and Dr. Ada Haynes.  This work, Critically Thinking Critical, received a 2011 NETA award.

Magura also serves as station liaison for Jack Stoddart’s independently produced series, Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s, now in the sixth season and airing nationally through NETA as well as Todd Jarrell and Todd Mayo’s Bluegrass Underground, an HD music series now in its second season, taped in Tennessee’s Cumberland Caverns and distributed by PBS Plus.

A successful grant writer, she has received funding for projects from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Tennessee Arts Commission, The Tennessee Department of Forestry, Independent Television Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as other local and regional entities.  WCTE’s grant funded initiative, Live Green and Prosper and the statewide seriesLive Green Tennessee, have seen significant impact on connecting the consumer to the producer with awareness of agriculture on the economy of our region.