SALISBURY — Chris Donnellan is no stranger to community television.
The new executive director of Salisbury Community Television is taking over the reins from Lance Wisniewski who retired after nearly 18 years in the role in late December.
Donnellan was officially given the title in mid-November which allowed him and Wisniewski to navigate the switch for about a month.
“I was mirroring his role for a couple of weeks because there was so much to transition to,” Donnellan said.
Prior to taking on the role of executive director, Donnellan had already worked for SCTV for the ten years.
In his previous role, operations manager, Donnellan said he recorded events and put them on air, training new employees along the way.
Alongside working at SCTV, Donnellan has also been working part-time at his local community television station in Sandown, New Hampshire, for the last 15 years.
Donnellan’s familiarity with SCTV made him the perfect candidate to replace Wisniewski, according to Gil Medeiros, SCTV Board of Directors chairperson and Salisbury selectman.
“He knows the town. He’s pretty much worked on all aspects of SCTV,” he said.
For Donnellan, taking on the role of executive director felt right after his years working for the organization.
“It was great, because it feels like just a very natural fit obviously, because I’ve been here for a while. And, I really had been thinking about what I would do in that role, and what sort of things I would like to try. And, it’s nice to be able to act on that,” he said.
Now, as he begins to put his own stamp on the station, Donnellan said he hopes to continue the good work he and Wisniewski have done over the years.
“We’ve accomplished a lot and we’ve developed a lot of new processes and ideas. I want to obviously continue to build on those and explore new things,” he said.
Specifically, Donnellan said he hopes to expand live programming and encourage community participation during his time as executive director.
“Out of the 24 hours on the radio, we don’t fill half of that with live programming. And, that’s not a bad thing, but it just gives us an opportunity to have so much more growth and try new things,” he said.
Donnellan also said he is open to listening to ideas from community members who may want to participate in TV or radio in some way.
“I hope that people want to come and talk about things. And, the worst we can do is say ‘Well, it wouldn’t work’. But, maybe it would and it’s worth exploring,” he said.