Three Things Datebook for the week of 11/8/2021

It's a busy week ahead with plenty of things to keep your eye on including NPR board committee meetings, Public Radio Music Day, and Public Media For All's Day of Action and Education.

Nov 08, 2021

THING ONE: It’s NPR’s Board of Directors Committee Meeting Week

The quarterly meeting of the NPR Board of Directors and meetings of most of its committees take place over the next two weeks via video conference. While most of the “meaty” work of the board occurs in closed sessions, these meetings are open to the public.

If you want to virtually attend open sessions of the Board meetings held by web conference or teleconference, you should contact the NPR Board Liaison at boardliaison@npr.org at least one day before the meeting begins.

Here’s this week’s meeting schedule:

Monday, November 8, 2021

3:00 - 4:30 pm (Eastern time) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

This meeting might be worth checking out since the committee is relatively new and the one agenda item is a review of key DEI strategies at NPR provided by Carrie Storer, NPR’s Chief HR Officer, and Keith Woods, Chief Diversity Officer at NPR.

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

11:00 am - 12:30 pm (Eastern time) Membership Committee

While there could be numerous NPR - member station issues to discuss, the public portion of the agenda is, unfortunately, pretty sparse of content.

1:00 - 2:30 pm (Eastern time) Finance Committee

The agenda includes a Treasurer’s report with an update on NPR finances. Of note, only two of the seven members of this important committee are Member Directors (Committee Vice Chair John Decker, KPBS, and Board Chair LaFontaine Oliver, WYPR).

3:00 - 4:30 pm (Eastern time) Governance Committee

With the recent resignation of Carlos Watson from the board, there’s one public member vacancy on the board. It’s unlikely though this will be discussed in public session.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

11:00 am - 12:30 pm (Eastern time) Development Committee

The Development Committee will hear from NPR’s Manager of Donor Events Cecelia Rizk and Allison Wiles, the Director of Individual Giving at NPR, on the latest happenings with the NPR - Member station collaborative fundraising effort. In addition, NPR Foundation Chair John McGinn will update the committee on the work of the NPR Foundation.
There’s always been a bit of a mystery at stations about the NPR Foundation, so this might be worth your time to check out.

1:00 - 2:30 pm (Eastern time) Audit Committee

This committee does essential work, but its meetings - through no fault of its own - has been described by committee members as “the place where fun goes to die.” Of note, this will be Joyce Slocum’s last time as Chair of this committee as she is term-limited out as a board member. Joyce has been a great member of the board over her two terms.

3:00 - 4:30 pm (Eastern time) Distribution/Interconnection Committee

If you geek about the Public Radio Satellite System, there are plenty of items on the agenda to satisfy your needs.

Next week, the full board will meet in various sessions on Thursday, November 18, 2021, and Friday, November 19, 2021.

THING TWO: Wednesday, November 10 is Public Radio Music Day

The second annual Public Radio Music Day hosted by the noncomMUSIC Alliance is all day on Wednesday. Public radio will celebrate the role that public radio music stations play in the music world locally and nationally.

The day also serves as effective advocacy for music stations as last week U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Chris Coons (D-DE), along with U.S. Representatives Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) and Don Young (R-AK), introduced a bipartisan, bicameral resolution to mark November 10, 2021, as Public Radio Music Day. The focus of this advocacy effort is to streamline copyright licensing requirements for stations, which has been an ongoing challenge over the years, particularly on digital platforms.

THING THREE: Vision 2022: An Imperative for Public Media’s Future

Public Media for All has scheduled A Day of Action and Education this Wednesday that includes a webinar at 3:00 pm Eastern time.

Vision 2022: An Imperative for Public Media’s Future is described as a call to conscience, action, and education to intensify the work of strategically addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in public media.

It’s been a year since the inaugural day of action and education. In this webinar, the coalition of public media workers, led by people of color, will share what they have accomplished with its first cohort of stations and set an agenda of reform for the coming year.

You can register for the session through this link.

Several organizations have stepped up to support this effort, including the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Public Media Women in Leadership, Public Radio Association of Development Officers, Public Radio Program Directors Association, and Public Media Journalists Association.

Two More Things

It’s such a busy week, so I am breaking my own rule by adding a 4th and 5th thing to this busy week.

THING FOUR: The Spoken Word Audio Report

Edison Research and NPR will present the latest edition of The Spoken Word Audio Report1 as a live webinar on Thursday, November 11 at 2:00 pm Eastern.

Lamar Johnson, NPR’s VP of Sponsorship Marketing, and Megan Lazovick, VP at Edison Research, will be presenting.

According to the press release from Edison, the new report promises to document how news, podcasts, audiobooks, and talk radio’s share of audio listening is at an all-time high. In addition, Edison and NPR note that young and diverse listeners are consuming spoken word content at rates never recorded before.

THING FIVE: Local That Works

Public Media Futures and Current will be showcasing the finalists on Tuesday beginning at 2 pm Eastern in this year’s Local that Works annual contest that showcases innovative projects from nonprofit media.

This year’s finalists are All Classical Portland, WBUR and El Planeta, WHYY, and The Oaklandside. Local That Works is funded by the Wyncote Foundation.

All Classical Portland’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative

The Recording Inclusivity Initiative is changing America’s playlist by creating new recordings of works by composers from historically excluded communities. After a public call for nominations, they reviewed nearly 100 submissions and selected five compositions: two works by posthumous composers and three by living composers. With support from the Bodecker Foundation, the living composers received week-long “Composer in Residence” appointments, including creative workshops with musicians and recording sessions in state-of-the-art studios.

Mass. Election Prep: Become An Informed Voter In 7 Days

Public Radio WBUR-FM and Boston’s daily Spanish-language newspaper, El Planeta, forged a partnership in 2020 to translate, market, and distribute voter information to Greater Boston’s Latinx communities. The project focused on voting rights, immigration, the economy, and policing, the issues at the heart of the 2020 elections.

WHYY’s News and Information Community Exchange (N.I.C.E.)

Funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, WHYY’s Project N.I.C.E. built ongoing partnerships with local Philadelphia journalists & media makers to elevate their reporting and connect them with each other. Through Project N.I.C.E., diverse content creators share news, information, and wisdom in distinctive voices with unique perspectives not typically seen in mainstream news.

The Oaklandside “Mission Metrics”

When The Oaklandside launched in June 2020, the editors and journalists committed to root their reporting in the needs of diverse communities across the city of Oakland, CA. They hosted “community listening sessions,” deep in-person discussions with Oakland residents, which led them to identify their “founding newsroom values” that would guide their work. To reinforce those values, they then piloted a “Mission Metrics” program designed to measure--both quantitatively and qualitatively--the impact of their work.

Attendees who stay through the 45-minute finale will get the chance to vote for the winner of the $20,000 Grand Prize.

Three Things