There's a New General Manager at City-Owned WRR-FM: Sarah Colmark, of New Mexico

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., Jan. 13 2012 at 8:32 PM

Categories: Arts, City Hall, Media, Music

Pin It

It's been close to two years since Greg Davis, WRR's longtime general manager, left the city-owned classical-music radio station -- and, remember, he didn't quit, he retired. But tonight, buried in the stack of docs prepared for next week's council committee meetings, we find this bit of breaking news: The city's hired his replacement -- a classically trained pianist named Sarah Colmark, at right, who can presently be heard on KHFM 95.5 and 102.9 FM in New Mexico, where she's also the station manager and has been since 2008. (Says here she cleaned house when arriving in Albuquerque, where her father owned the station.)

Not sure how much she's being paid; that's something council will have to consider Tuesday at the Arts, Culture & Libraries Committee meeting and again at the January 25 full meeting. But, writes Assistant City Manager Joey Zapata in his memo to the council:

The compensation agreement includes a base salary, all benefits accruable to civilian employees, and an annual incentive amount tied to the station's performance regarding revenues. The main difference of this agreement from prior agreements is that the incentive amount is pre-established in the contract with specific benchmarks of operating revenue.

As you'll see below there's also a formal press release dated today -- first I've seen it -- in which María Munoz-Blanco, director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, has nice things to say about the hire, but of course. To which Colmark adds:

"WRR is a radio station with a great track record of bringing classical music to the community of Dallas and North Texas. I am excited to build upon the community's vision of a radio station that works to promote the arts, reaches a broad audience with quality classical programming, and connects with the business and arts communities. I look forward to working with the Friends of WRR and the Office of Cultural Affairs to ensure the continued success of classical radio in the community of Dallas and North Texas."

Details below. Susan Colmark Hiring Note and Compensation Memo

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.