St. Louis Public Radio cuts newsroom boss Shula Neuman, appoints Brian Heffernan as interim

After a six-year run as executive editor (aka news director) at KWMU-FM (90.7), Shula Neuman is out at St. Louis Public Radio.

Neuman was appointed to the top news position in February 2016 after previously working three years as the station's health, science, education and race editor.

Station marketing director Madalyn Painter confirmed Neuman's departure in an email, but declined to be more specific.

Special projects editor Brian Heffernan has assumed the position of interim executive editor.

For Neuman, this latest nine-year stint at the station was her second go-around at KWMU. She had worked as a reporter and newscaster from 2000 to 2002.

Previously, she has worked for NPR in Washington and at a radio station in Cleveland. She also has worked for Washington University.

Heffernan, an STL native, has been at KWMU since 2018 as a digital and special projects editor. He has made several other previous professional stops, including at St. Louis Magazine, the Riverfront Times and Al Jazeera America.

The search for an executive editor is expected to take up to six months, station officials said.

The last big change at the station was in September 2020, when longtime general manager Tim Eby resigned under fire, and eventually replaced by Tina Pamintuan, after being accused of racism by some station staffers.

KWMU, a National Public Radio affiliate, is licensed to the University of Missouri  and operates at part of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. It also operates the public radio stations in Rolla and Quincy, Illinois.

According to the latest (May) Nielsen ratings, KWMU is the No. 14 station in the STL market.