San Diego Opera: Looking Ahead With COO Keith Fisher

Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

Katie Schoolov served as a video journalist for KPBS. She shot and edited in-depth features for television, radio, and the web, and reported on stories when time allowed. She is a San Diego native and returned to cover her hometown after working as a video journalist for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun. Katie serves on the national board of directors for the National Press Photographers Association. She previously worked as a print and video journalist for a daily newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she covered ongoing election violence in Zimbabwe and the resulting emigration. She also interned for the Associated Press, producing internationally circulated videos and writing articles from the White House press room. Katie has won first place awards from the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the San Diego Press Club. She was also a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

I cover arts and culture, from Comic-Con to opera, from pop entertainment to fine art, from zombies to Shakespeare. I am interested in going behind the scenes to explore the creative process; seeing how pop culture reflects social issues; and providing a context for art and entertainment.