Anil Dewan

Tech director, App Developer

To me, Ruth was a mentor, a friend, and a boss, who encouraged exploring the edges of art, culture, media and entertainment, and taught me how to be courageous.  I learned from her what was interesting and what was old; what mattered and what was simply a distraction. And while I’ve had a few mentors guide me and teach me, no one showed me what it meant to take chances with new ideas, or new people, more than Ruth. And she always believed I could do it.

I moved in and out of KCRW in several roles from a volunteer, to helping produce Summerday (fundraiser, wine auction), to returning to grow KCRW’s online presence. In this last role we used the Internet to push a vision of KCRW Worldwide which was groundbreaking, expansive, and exciting. 

With Jason Georges as webmaster, and later with our team, KCRW was one of the first public radio stations to live stream video performances of MBE on the Internet, one of the first radio stations - public or commercial - to launch dedicated live and on demand streaming services.

We created the first mobile app in radio for the iPhone, even before NPR (they weren’t happy!). We offered entire back catalogs of on-demand shows and podcasts. 

During the early days of social media, KCRW was the first to establish a presence on Facebook and Twitter, expanding our community of listeners. We engaged in a two way conversation with listeners and members in real time and truly talked to people all over the world. We live broadcast and live tweeted concerts online before that was ever a thing. 

Those years at KCRW were some of the best in my career. There were many firsts and accomplishments (and a couple of failures) that set the stage for many things that came later in radio, entertainment, and social media.

Ruth was unstoppable and a constant force for new ideas and thought. We lived it together and I believe the world is better for it, as am I.