Jo Anne Wallace began her long career in public radio by volunteering at WYSO, the station at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. Wallace became general manager of the station as it gained full National Public Radio Affiliation.
She first worked in the Bay Area while briefly managing KPFA in Berkeley, then became program manager of WGBH Radio in Boston.
In 1981, Wallace joined NPR as Director of Administrative and Planning Director in the network’s News Division, where she served for nine years. She was involved with the acquisition or development of numerous NPR programs, including Car Talk, which became NPR’s most listened-to program.
Wallace joined KQED in 1990 as general manager in 1990. The radio station had begun its transition from news and classical music to an all-news and information format. Wallace oversaw the development of a strong local news and public affairs presence on KQED, developing the station into one of the most-listened-to public radio news and public affairs services in the nation.
Wallace was named Vice President and General Manager of Radio at KQED in 1996 and later took charge of supervising programming for KQED-TV and KTEH-TV.
Wallace is a graduate of Stanford University and has been recognized with an American Women in Radio and Television Award (Golden Gate chapter) and Public Radio News Directors Leo C. Lee award. She served three terms on the National Public Radio Board of Directors.
Wallace retired from KQED in 2018.