R.I.P.: John Lansing, Former NPR CEO

John Lansing ('57-'24)

John Lansing, a onetime CBS Minnesota and CBS Chicago and news director who went on to become the chief executive officer of National Public Radio, has died.

NPR reported Lansing died Wednesday at his home in Wisconsin, at the age of 67. He retired from his position as the head of the public broadcasting organization only months ago.

 Lansing got his start in the media business as a studio technician and photographer at WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky, when he was only 17. He went on as a young man to work as a photographer for WAVE-TV in Louisville.

He attended Bellarmine University, but left before completing his degree when he was hired as news director at WWMT-TV, Grand Rapids. According to published biographies, Lansing was named assistant news director at KARE-TV in Minneapolis in 1988—and as news director at CBS Minnesota, WCCO-TV 4, in his hometown of Minneapolis in 1990.

Published reports note that at WCCO, Lansing developed a "family-sensitive" approach to the news in an environment where a focus on crime and a sensational approach to local news was the norm in much of the country.

In the fall of 1994, Lansing moved to CBS Chicago, WBBM-TV, Channel 2 as news director—joining general manager and fellow WCCO alum Bob McGann. As noted in published reports, McGann, Lansing, and other CBS Chicago news staffers launched community meetings to gather feedback and criticism about local TV news as they revamped the station's local newscasts with a community-focused approach in mind—calling Channel 2 News "Chicago's News."

Lansing was also at the helm as longtime afternoon anchor Lester Holt took over alongside Linda MacLennan as the anchor of Channel 2's 10 p.m. news, while the renowned Bill Kurtis scaled back his duties to anchoring the 6 p.m. newscast alongside Mary Ann Childers.

In August 1995, Lansing took over as vice president and station manager at WXYZ-TV, ABC 7 in Detroit, and two years later took the same position at WEWS-TV, ABC 5 in Cleveland. Lansing went on to take over as vice president, senior vice president, and in 2005, president of Scripps Networks—the parent company of the Detroit and Cleveland stations.

In 2019, Lansing took over as CEO of NPR. In an obit story by Media Correspondent David Folkenflik, the public radio broadcasting organization noted that Lansing's focus from the start was diversifying the staff, programming, and news coverage choices in what he called his "North Star."