WNET Group names GM, head of production for NYC public TV station

The WNET Group, parent company of New York City’s PBS station WNET, has announced the appointment of Dana Roberson to general manager and head of production operations effective April 1, 2025.

Roberson will oversee daily operations of WNET, which brands as “Thirteen” and is licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and will be responsible for leading the production management, production services  and design and on-air promotions teams. She will report to Diane Masciale, vice president and general manager of WLIW, WNET’s sister PBS station and WLIW-FM and co-executive in charge of All Arts, a 24-hour offering focused on the arts.

“As former general manager of ‘PBS News Hour Weekend‘ and executive producer of special projects, Dana has successfully led multiplatform production and delivery for numerous documentaries and specials,” said Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of the WNET Group, in a statement. “Elevating her to lead Thirteen and production services is a natural progression, and we’re excited to have her in this new role.”

In addition to serving the New York area, WNET has also been behind multiple series aired on PBS stations across the country.

From 2018 to 2022, Roberson was general manager and executive producer at “PBS News Hour Weekend.”

Previously, she was a producer at New York Public Radio’s WNYC for the daily national news program, “The Takeaway.” A television news veteran, she worked at CBS News for 18 years on acclaimed programs such as “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt and with legendary newsman Dan Rather on his investigative team at AXS-TV.

Her investigative reporting earned her a Peabody Award for her breaking coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. She has covered stories from the war in Afghanistan to the earthquake in Haiti and the Dalai Lama in India. She is an Emmy Award-winning producer for news and documentary programming and also serves as an adjunct professor at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and at Fordham University. Roberson graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism and has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

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