Executive Director of Radio Programming and Content Innovation Initiatives
Born in East Houston, Ernesto Aguilar’s life was transformed by public media. His career has traversed daily newspapers and alternative weeklies to public radio news and program director roles. At KQED, he oversees radio broadcast content and innovation initiatives in the Content division, including leading its AI Working Group. Prior to KQED, Aguilar served public media as executive director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. A Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Fellow, Sulzberger Executive Leadership Fellow, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY AI in Journalism Leadership cohort selection and Public Media CEO/COO Bootcamp graduate, Aguilar has a B.A. in journalism, with minors in sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Houston. In his spare time, he writes OIGO, a newsletter on public media and Latino audiences, and AI and Public Media Futures, a newsletter on artificial intelligence's impact on public broadcasting.
