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Suzi McClear, Professional Biography.

Work Experience:

Training: Suzi McClear was the Training Coordinator for ProMedia’s Slovakia program from September 1997 until it closed in September 1999.  She was transferred to the Serbia-Montenegro-Kosovo program until June 2001. She has done direct training and has facilitated and supervised other ProMedia trainers. In 1996-7 she served on the faculty of a journalism project at the Danish School of Journalism in Aarhus and at the University of Tirana where she taught mixed groups of Danish and Albanian Journalism students. McClear was part of the team that developed the curriculum and conducted radio journalism training for ANEM in Serbia, participating in workshops in Prague, Serbia, Kosovo and in Montenegro from 1997 through 2003. She also lead workshops in Croatia and Bulgaria (there was one-on-one consultations) in conjunction with most of these projects.

Other teaching experiences: In addition to journalism training, she taught writing and American History, both in the English language, at the University of Tirana in the Faculty of Foreign Languages fall 1995 to the fall of the pyramid schemes in 1999 when foreigners left the country. She has also conducted training on use of research for both market viability and radio program development.

Business Viability: McClear has successfully managed several non-profit corporations in an era of declining revenues, leaving each entity stronger than she found it. In 1995 McClear served a one-month residency at Radio Invar in Khaborovsk, Russia, where she did training in marketing and helped to develop business plans. Market viability is also a major component of her training in Eastern Europe. She is also part owner of two Anchorage radio stations and is currently employed there doing programming, traffic and whatever else is useful in making them commercially viable.

Association Development: While working for ProMedia, McClear worked with ANRTS (the Association of Independent Radio and Television Stations), LOTOS (a local TV association), the Association of Local Periodic Press Publishers and the Slovak Syndicate of Journalists in Slovakia and in close association with ANEM Radio in Serbia. In the US she served on the Finance Committee of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and later served on the Federation's board as Secretary. She was also instrumental in creating the Juneau city-wide Day Care Association and served on the Alaska Network Against Domestic Violence from 1986 to 1989, being elected Secretary-Treasurer in 1989.

Legal Reform: McClear was part of the ProMedia Slovakia team that, in addition to working with associations on media legislation, produced a legal handbook for journalists (hard copy and web page) and a journalists’ website where breaking legal issues are outlined. She also organized a study tour to the U.S. for those who would be drafting the new media laws in Slovakia. In the US, she successfully worked on legal issues in Alaska on the protection of women and children.

Journalism: McClear had an early career in newspapers, switching to professional radio in 1966. She has produced news pieces, some of them award winning, throughout her career. She has supervised university news interns and has trained journalists from Croatia, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Serbia and Slovakia as part of the ProMedia program. When in Sitka she continues to produce programs for KCAW.

Managerial: McClear was part of the team that founded KAXE in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, serving as General Manager. She has experience managing Children’s Community Center in Juneau, the Isabel Miller Museum (operated by the Sitka Historical Society) and Sitkans Against Family Violence (a domestic violence shelter and community education program). She has also taught management for the University of Alaska.

Technical: McClear began her radio career as an engineer and has retained the interest and aptitude to supervise technical details. She has wide-ranging computer skills, has acted as webmaster for the ProMedia Slovakia web page, and daily runs computerized radio automation and trafficking systems.

Contact is easiest via e-mail at Suzi @ McClear.net