Adrienne Fairwell
President and CEO, South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV)
Adrienne Fairwell, APR is the seventh president and CEO in the history of South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV). She returns to SCETV and South Carolina Public Radio (SCPR) after serving as the general manager of Arizona PBS, headquartered in Phoenix.
SCETV is a dual licensee station that is also home to SCPR. Both stations have been trusted community resources for many decades. SCETV is the state’s public educational broadcasting network and amplifies South Carolina voices, provides educational experiences and strengthens communities while working to create a stronger, more connected and informed South Carolina.
SCETV’s 11 television stations provide 33,818 hours of educational programs each year on four channels, while SCPR broadcasts two different services over eight transmitters.
Prior to joining SCETV, Fairwell served as the general manager for Arizona PBS, where she led the station through its transition into a multiplatform public media organization, tripling its digital-only/first productions and podcasts; multiplied philanthropic giving; and created long-term, never-before-seen community partnerships to generate revenue and foster collaboration. Fairwell assisted in creating education content for national use and distribution through the station’s education outreach team.
Once serving as assistant general manager of SCETV and SCPR, Fairwell oversaw SCETV’s brand management, promotional and advertising efforts, public relations, audience engagement, revenue activities, partnership development, multiplatform content generation, studio and field production, local and national programming, broadcast programming, traffic and government transparency work.
Fairwell has been a communications professional for more than two decades, but her recent work at SCETV and SCPR gave her the best of both worlds: the overwhelming opportunity and responsibility to oversee content development, integration and implementation for television, digital and radio audiences.
Recognizing the power of maximizing the use of content on all platforms, Fairwell has overseen the deployment of strategies and tactics allowing the network to connect with viewers and listeners in ways not imagined just a few short years ago: creating long- and short-form stories, using prepackaged content from other platforms and integrating specific keywords for high search-engine optimization.
Prior to joining SCETV, Fairwell served as the division director of marketing and communications at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, where she oversaw the ramp up of the agency’s social media efforts and the development and execution of a long-range strategic marketing and communications plan aimed at creating awareness of agency topics, generating public support and promoting South Carolina as an ideal location for business, both new and existing.
Fairwell holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in human resources development from Webster University and has earned the internationally recognized accreditation in public relations (APR) designation and the certified public manager professional designation. Fairwell is civically engaged, and she and her husband, Michael, share two children.