Jarl Mohn Biography

NPR named a veteran media executive and investor as its new chief executive Friday, the eighth person to head the Washington-based digital and radio news organization in the past eight years.

NPR’s board approved the appointment of Jarl Mohn, 62, as the new chief executive at its regularly scheduled meeting. Mohn, who lives in Los Angeles, is the founder of the E! Entertainment Television cable channel and has a long list of media investments and corporate board appointments on his résumé. Among other positions, he was general manager of MTV and VH1 cable networks between 1986 and 1990.

He and his wife, Pamela, are also prominent art collectors and philanthropists. They have made the list of top collectors compiled annually by ArtNews several times, most recently in 2013.

Mohn’s strongest connection to public radio is through KPCC (89.3 FM), the Pasadena, Calif., station that is among the top-rated noncommercial stations in the country. He is chairman of Southern California Public Radio, which operates the station.

He started his career as a radio DJ under the name Lee Masters, which he used during his business career until retiring from daily management roles in 2002. He then reverted to his given name (pronounced “yarl moan”).

Mohn, who has a reputation as a turnaround specialist, will inherit an organization that has been battling persistent operating deficits.

Mohn became a DJ at the age of 15 in his home town of Doylestown, Pa. He spent 20 years in the radio business as a DJ, station manager and station owner before joining MTV. Under Mohn, the cable network first began playing rap music and began its transition from music videos to long-form and series programs.

Following his stint at MTV, Mohn turned a struggling cable network called Movietime, which mostly showed movie trailers, into E! The network created a franchise with its “True Hollywood Story” documentary series; Mohn is credited with the idea for “Talk Soup,” the channel’s long-running program that shows clips of daytime and reality shows over snarky commentary from its hosts. The show launched the career of actor Greg Kinnear and, later, Joel McHale, who performed at the most recent White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Mohn was also the founding president and chief executive of Liberty Digital, the investment arm of Liberty Media Corp., from 1999 to 2002. He was eventually rewarded with $50 million in cash and 5.7 million shares of the parent company, a stake worth more than $750 million today.

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