This story was last updated at 3:45 p.m.

JJ Yore, the general manager of WAMU, is stepping down after six years in the role, he announced in an email to staff on Friday.

American University, which holds the license to WAMU, also plans to establish a task force to investigate the station’s work culture and make recommendations for improvements, according to a separate email to staff members from Seth Grossman, American University’s vice president of people and external affairs.

The task force will be led by Monna Kashfi, WAMU’s chief content officer, as well as two other WAMU officials, according to an AU spokesperson. Kashfi was appointed to her role as chief content officer on Friday, after serving in an interim capacity over the summer.

Yore’s “last official day” will be Monday, an AU spokesperson tells DCist, but he is no longer working as of Friday. The university will identify a new interim general manager within four to six weeks, and the search for a permanent replacement will begin in February 2021, after the task force wraps up, according to Grossman’s email. Grossman also said the leadership team, and eventually other managers and staff, will undergo diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism training.

Yore’s resignation and the broader changes follow months of unusually public-facing criticism of the station from its own employees, including allegations of workplace toxicity that led to the recent departure of several staffers of color.

Frustrations with the station spilled into public view in June when Morgan Givens, a producer for WAMU’s 1A show, tweeted that he had heard Yore was trying to find a way to fire him after he tweeted critical statements about President Donald Trump. Yore denied that he had been trying to fire Givens. Several staffers tweeted in support of Givens and alluded to problems with the station’s broader culture.

Last month, the university launched an investigation of WAMU managing editor Zuri Berry, after three women of color said they left their jobs at the station in the last two years because of unpleasant interactions with him, according to a Current report. Staffers Berry previously oversaw have been moved to a different supervisor, Current reported.

A spokesperson for AU declined to comment on the status of the investigation of Berry’s conduct.

Criticism from within and outside the organization intensified after DCist reported last week that senior WAMU managers were aware for years of numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior from a staff member, transportation reporter Martin Di Caro. Senior leaders at WAMU repeatedly admonished Di Caro for his behavior, but he continued to secure promotions and opportunities at the station before leaving in 2017, DCist reported.

Last Friday, during a virtual WAMU staff meeting and afterwards on social media, several employees criticized Yore’s handling of the ongoing turmoil and called on him to resign. He responded at the time that resigning would be “the easiest thing to do” and that he would prefer to “try to implement the changes that we need to make,” according to DCist’s Rachel Kurzius.

One week later, his tone has changed.

“This has been a very difficult decision for me because running WAMU was not just a job for me. WAMU is a station I love, in the city where I grew up,” Yore wrote to staffers Friday. “However, as I have looked back on the past months, I realize that I have not led the station through recent events in a way that has earned and maintained your trust and that trust is essential to our mutual success and to the success of WAMU. I regret the sense that I have let you down which is why I feel I must now step aside.”

Several staffers tweeted positive reactions to the news that Yore will step down, praised the hiring of Kashfi in a permanent role, and implored the university to follow through on substantive reforms.

https://twitter.com/cdelshad/status/1291740413972426752

https://twitter.com/JWPascale/status/1291753991148363777

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1291740571661467648

The turmoil at WAMU has had ripple effects beyond D.C. In light of the allegations outlined in the DCist report, Chicago public radio station WBEZ is reportedly reconsidering its hiring of Andi McDaniel, former chief content officer at WAMU, as the CEO of Chicago Public Media, according to recent reports in Current and Robert Feder’s media blog. McDaniel is slated to start a new role there on September 28.

WAMU’s May note to staff about McDaniel’s departure said her last day on staff would be September 25, following her maternity leave.

A spokesperson for WBEZ said “the Chicago Public Media Board of Directors continues to be in the midst of its review process.”

Yore joined the station in August 2014 and oversaw a period of considerable audience and financial growth, including the acquisition of local news site DCist in 2018. The pandemic has challenged those gains, though — station leaders last month announced cost-cutting measures to account for a projected $8 million revenue loss.

Asked whether Yore will receive a payout or additional compensation beyond his salary as he departs, an AU spokesperson said they “cannot speak to specific personnel details.”

This story has been updated throughout.