HGTV founder to speak Sept. 11

 HGTV founder to speak Sept. 11

Scripps Networks Interactive chair, president and CEO Ken Lowe, a Carolina alumnus, will give the Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. in Carroll Hall room 111.

His lecture, “An Evolving Paradigm: Media in the Interactive Age,” is free and open to the public.

A 1972 graduate of the radio, television and motion pictures department, Lowe founded HGTV in 1994, managed the transformation of Food Network into an American pop-culture icon, presided over the launch of DIY Network and Fine Living Network and guided the acquisition of the Great American Country television network.

Lowe joined Scripps in 1980 and held its top post from 2000 to July 2008, when Scripps Networks Interactive split from its parent company. He now heads Scripps Networks Interactive, its five television networks and a growing portfolio of interactive content businesses and services.

Lowe serves on the board of directors for the Associated Press, the Paley Center for Media and various business development organizations. He was inducted into the N.C. Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.

The Triad Foundation sponsors the Park Lecture series to attract the nation’s top journalists and media professionals to enhance the experience of UNC journalism students, and the campus and local communities. The foundation also sponsors the Roy H. Park Fellowships, allowing eight doctoral and 14 master’s students each year to pursue a graduate education.

Roy H. Park, a native North Carolinian and N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame inductee, was a media executive and entrepreneur. At the time of his death in 1993, his company, Park Communications, controlled 21 radio stations, seven television stations and 144 publications.