Joyce D. Slocum was the senior VP of legal and business affairs for Lyrick Studios.[1] Slocum currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Public Radio (TPR) a listener-supported, nonprofit broadcaster serving communities in San Antonio, South Central Texas, the Texas Hill Country and the Texas Big Country.[2]
Slocum was also a co-writer to the songs "Count the Stars", "I Love You (Extended Version)" and "Trying on Dreams".
Career[]
Barney Beginnings[]
Due to her work at the time requiring extensive traveling, she started using a car service to go back and forth to the airport, with her favorite driver being David. At the time, David was also driving for Sheryl Leach, the creator of Barney. David mentioned to both Slocum and Leach that they should meet each other. Leach called Slocum and said that Lyrick, who owned Barney at the time, was looking for a general counsel. Hesitant and protested at first, due to not having knowledge about entertainment law, Slocum was hired.
Lyrick, HIT, Sprout[]
Ms. Slocum served as a key negotiator for Lyrick in its merger with HIT Entertainment PLC, and later in HIT’s negotiations for the acquisition of Gullane Entertainment PLC. Following the 2005 acquisition of HIT by Apax Partners, Ms. Slocum was named company secretary for the primary holding company and all US subsidiaries.
In addition to her mergers and acquisitions work while at HIT, Ms. Slocum championed the concept of a cable channel dedicated to quality pre-school children’s programming and served a pivotal role in bringing together the unique partnership of HIT, Comcast, Sesame Workshop and PBS to form the PBS Kids Sprout channel, now available in over 50 million households.[3]
One of Slocum's major accomplishments was her role in launching PBS KIDS Sprout channel, the first 24-hour cable network for preschoolers. The idea came about in early 2004 during an executive meeting in New York City. In 2005, after the Sprout talks ended, HIT was purchased by Apax Partners/Sunshine Acquisition Limited, based in the United Kingdom. Soon after, the company announced that it would close its Dallas office.
Slocum left HIT on July 4, 2008, and started at NPR three days later.