WVIA Announces News Director

WVIA, the PBS and NPR affiliate for northeastern and central Pennsylvania, has announced that Julie Sidoni is the organization’s new News Director. Sidoni will start at WVIA on October 4, 2021.

As WVIA’s news director, Sidoni will lead WVIA’s investment in local journalism and will oversee WVIA’s local coverage across all of the station’s television, radio, and digital platforms.

“We are thrilled that Julie will be guiding WVIA’s journalism team. Our priority in the past year has been to increase local output across platforms and have deeper conversations that effect change,” said WVIA President and CEO Carla McCabe. “With Julie’s extensive career serving northeastern and central Pennsylvania and her knowledge of the issues that matter most to the people we serve, Julie is uniquely positioned to lead this public service for the WVIA community by adding a journalistic perspective.”

“With over 20 years of covering stories in our region, we are very excited to have Julie come aboard,” said Ben Payavis II, WVIA Chief Content Officer. “We look forward to the contributions she and her team will bring to the radio programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as our public affairs television series, Keystone Edition.”

Julie began her award-winning journalism career in public radio, at the NPR affiliate WDUQ-FM in Pittsburgh. She also spent time learning the business as a producer at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh before graduating from Duquesne University, and soon landed her first on-air television reporting job at WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. A year and a half later, she was hired as a reporter for WNEP-TV in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and spent nearly 20 years there as an anchor/reporter. 

Aside from her work in the news business, Julie is also a writer and has been awarded a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. She is also an adjunct professor in the School of Communications at Wilkes University, teaching undergraduate public speaking. 

The St. Marys, PA native now calls Kingston home. She lives there with her husband, Attorney Jeffrey Yelen, and her two sons, Charlie and Jack.

“I have loved serving my community all these years through my work at WNEP. I’m now very much looking forward to putting those years of experience into practice here at WVIA,” Sidoni said. “I learned how to be a journalist from my colleagues in public television and radio, so in many ways, this feels like a homecoming.”