Three Things Datebook for the Week of 2/14/2022
On the Datebook are two major upcoming gatherings that you should add to your calendar. Plus - Look! Up in the Sky! It’s Super Listeners! And the CPB and NPR boards hold virtual meetings.
In addition to yesterday being Super Bowl Sunday, it was also World Radio Day as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. This year’s version was very fitting for those working in public radio.
For World Radio Day 2022, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called on radio stations worldwide to celebrate this event’s 11th edition and more than a century of radio.
This year’s edition of World Radio Day is divided into three main sub-themes centered around trust:
Trust in radio journalism: Produce independent and high-quality content.
UNESCO says that respecting basic standards of ethical journalism has become challenging in the present high-tempo digital age. However, in order to keep or raise listeners’ trust, journalism must continue to be based on verifiable information that is shared in the public interest, holds the powerful to account, and helps society build a better future for all.
Trust and accessibility: Take care of your audience
The second theme suggests reaching out to a selected audience group implies serving the informational needs of all listeners and being a catalyst for integration and social participation - including persons with disabilities. Digital radio platforms provide grounds for innovation in the accessibility of content for the latter, such as the use of sign languages or automated subtitles for hearing-impaired audiences when streaming, or announcements of content for blind listeners.
Trust and viability of radio stations: Ensure competitiveness.
This sub-theme links the economic survival of radio stations to their ability to attract and retain a large enough base of loyal listeners to be sustainable or to embed listener interaction into their business models.
I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate the medium of radio than with how UNESCO describes the place of radio in our world.
THING ONE: Some Grand Gatherings Coming Soon
Two of my favorite conferences of the year are quickly approaching, and I want to encourage you to register for both as they will offer some great ideas and compelling conversations.
The first is the 15th Annual Knight Media Forum from the Knight Foundation. The KMF will be a virtual gathering next week for the second consecutive year: Tuesday through Thursday, February 22 - 24, 2022.
I’ve had the opportunity to attend this event several times, and it’s unique because it brings together thought leaders in journalism, philanthropy, tech, and other areas with a focus on making our communities more robust through the power of journalism.
The forum is free and begins at 1:00 pm (Eastern) each of the three days. Here are a few highlights from the agenda:
The conference opens on Tuesday with a conversation discussing how Howard University is working to reframe and elevate the conversation around truth, journalism, and clarity. Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen will be joined by Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick (President, Howard University), Nikole Hannah-Jones (American Journalist & Author, 1619 Project), and Ta-Nehisi Coates (Award-winning Author and Journalist) for what should be a lively discussion.
Also, on Tuesday, there will be a discussion about what’s happening in Chicago as a case study for how philanthropy is stepping up to fund local journalism. Plus, there will be a session concentrating on television and radio, both public and commercial, partnering to increase public service journalism by working together in a community.
On Wednesday, a couple of highlights include a conversation with Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VendHei about their efforts with Axios Local and a panel that includes Lauren Williams, co-founder and CEO of Capital B1, discussing new approaches for local journalism. Another Wednesday afternoon session worth catching is a conversation on the government’s role to support journalism.
The final day of the KMF on Thursday begins with the extraordinary Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute, offering her insights on tech trends shaping our future. This talk alone is probably worth registering for the Forum. The closing session will feature our friend Dave Isay of StoryCorps discussing the One Small Step initiative.
The line-up for this year’s KMF is outstanding, and I think it’s great to see quite a bit of public media representation in this year’s line-up.
The virtual 2022 Knight Media Forum is free, and to register, head to this link to sign up.
The second upcoming conference I want to highlight is the 2022 Public Radio Super-Regional Meeting on April 11-12, 2022, IN PERSON at the Grand Hyatt in Denver.
This will be the first major in-person public radio gathering since 2019, and the planners are taking considerable care to ensure a safe and comfortable experience for everyone attending. You can see the COVID Safety Policies2 at the end of the newsletter.
I want to get this on everyone’s calendar today because the early bird registration pricing ends this Friday, February 18.
A couple of quick highlights that should make this conference a must-attend event:
The Opening Keynote speaker is Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler. Dr. Tyler is the founder and Chief Catalyst of The Equity Project based in Denver and specializes in the development and delivery of equity, leadership, diversity, cultural responsiveness, and inclusiveness training programs and strategies. Her talk will focus on the idea to “Remove, Reimagine or Redesign Your System with DEI in Mind.”
Following the keynote, Dr. Tyler and her staff will produce and facilitate DEI breakout sessions for attendees. The opportunity for station leaders to have these conversations in person for the first time in more than two years will be significant for the industry. As a preview, check out the video below from a June 2021 discussion with Dr. Tyler highlighting the work organizations can do to ensure Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through their systems and practices.
One of the goals for the meeting is to feature fewer but higher quality sessions and provide ample time to reconnect and engage with one another after being apart for so long.
Larry Rosin from Edison Research will be presenting at a lunch event. Other sessions include succession planning, leadership in times of crisis, small stations: big ideas & successes, collaboration conversations & lessons learned, the latest research trends, and the always popular “ask a lawyer” panel to answer your burning questions and discuss the latest legal hurdles facing stations.
I’m also honored to be presenting at a session where we’ll discuss the new competitive environment for public radio news stations with a panel of great station leaders. More on this to come in future editions of Three Things!
And the Super-Regional is more than just sitting in meeting rooms. The opening night reception will be at the History Colorado Center on Monday evening, April 11, 2022, sponsored by Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain Public Media, and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.
The conference ends with a closing night reception that will include a live performance at the Buell Public Media Center, the new state-of-the-art home of Rocky Mountain Public Media.
There’s also a pre-conference workshop, GM 101, and the U:SAA Madison Hodges Award and PRRO Award presentations.
More than anything, though, it will be fantastic to get together in person, and I hope you’ll get registered today.
THING TWO: Look! Up in the Sky! It’s Super Listeners!
Last week, I mentioned this webinar briefly but wanted to give it another plug because it should be very informative. The results of the third annual Super Listeners study from Edison Research and Ad Results Media will be presented this Wednesday, February 16, 2022, at 2:00 pm (Eastern).
Edison Research describes a “Super Listener” as someone who listens to five or more hours of podcasts weekly and is most likely to hear podcasting ads and has an opinion about them.
Edison’s Tom Webster, one of the presenters for the session, shared how these Super Listeners will seamlessly switch from one subscription video service to another in a recent blog post. These loyal listeners would almost certainly follow a podcast to an exclusive distribution platform if that were to happen.
In a recent Three Things post, I suggested that public radio consider offering some of its popular podcasts exclusively on the NPR One app for a period of time to build loyalty and usage of the product, similar to the strategy being employed by the BBC with its BBC Sounds app. This would provide public radio stations with valuable audience data and a pipeline for potential station membership.
Here’s the link to register for the webinar to get some great insights from this study of podcasting’s best customers.
Another webinar worth checking out this week is the latest Local That Works session from Current, Public Media Journalists Association, Poynter’s Local Edition, and Gather, with funding from the Wyncote Foundation. On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 2:00 pm (Eastern), the topic will be building a statewide news ecosystem with examples from New Mexico and New Jersey.
KPCC’s Mariana Dale will moderate the conversation with Rashad Mahmood from the New Mexico Local News Fund and Stefanie Murray from the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. They will talk about their work in building a state “ecosystem” that connects journalists and news organizations, seeks funding, and coordinates news coverage focusing on serving audiences across a state.
You can register for this free session at this link.
THING THREE: The Board of Directors of CPB and NPR Meet This Week
The first meeting of the calendar year of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board of Directors is taking place virtually on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 4:05 pm (Eastern).
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of Thomas E. Rothman and the renominations of Laura G. Ross and Elizabeth M. Sembler to the CPB Board. Rothman is Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group. However, this still leaves four vacant positions on the nine-member board.
The board meeting agenda is pretty sparse with remarks by the Chair and Directors and the President’s Report to the Board. There are two listed items for executive session discussion: a resolution regarding the 2022 audit firm contract and an update and resolution regarding digital projects that CPB is funding.
The CPB board’s Audit and Finance Committee meets immediately before the full board meeting at 2:00 pm (Eastern). That agenda includes an update from the Inspector General and a review of CPB’s financial statements.
The CPB board and committee meetings are open to the public, except for the executive sessions. If you’re interested in attending, contact CPB at ocsec@cpb.org or 202-879-9710 to get information on how you can listen to the discussion.
You can view the full agenda for both the committee and full board meeting here. If you are a real wonk for these things, you can visit a section on the CPB website where you can go back and listen to previous board meetings.
If you really want to do that, I suggest giving a listen to the meeting from December 2, 2020, where the board unanimously approved a resolution3 acknowledging the service of our long-time public radio colleague Patty Cahill for her long service to the CPB board.
Meanwhile, after a week of committee meetings, primarily held in closed sessions, the entire Board of Directors of NPR, Inc. will get together virtually on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
According to the agenda, the board will meet on Wednesday from 11:00 am - 6:45 pm (Eastern). However, the agenda doesn’t state whether this is an open or closed session and provides no other information about the topics the board will discuss during this full-day session.
The board reconvenes then on Thursday with a two-hour executive session followed by the board’s public meeting at 1:30 pm (Eastern). Board chair LaFontaine Oliver and President John Lansing will offer their reports to the board and the public to start the discussion. The balance of the meeting includes reports from the public sessions of the committee meetings last week with a few formal actions by the board.
And of course, there is the public comment portion of the meeting, which can often be interesting as to who chooses to comment to the board and what they have to say.
As I mentioned last week, If you’re interested in attending the open session of the virtual board meeting, you should contact the NPR Board Liaison at boardliaison@npr.org at least one day before the meeting begins.
That’s the Datebook for this week. Thanks for reading. And Happy Valentine’s Day!
I wrote about Capital B in the January 3, 2022 edition of Three Things.
2022 Public Radio Super-Regional Meeting COVID Safety Policy
Each participant is expected to agree to each step throughout the meeting days.
Each participant must sign a mandatory safety pledge and liability waiver on-site at the registration desk.
Only fully vaccinated people may attend the 2022 Public Radio Super-Regional Meeting. Therefore, when registering, you will need to upload a copy of the front and back of your vaccination card. A fully vaccinated person is anyone who has completed their vaccine regiment more than fourteen days before the conference.
We strongly encourage participants to take a COVID-19 test before departing for the meeting, even if they are asymptomatic.
All participants will be required to wear a mask, covering both the nose and mouth when not eating, drinking, or presenting throughout the entire meeting.
So that you may communicate easily with others, we will be providing three different ribbons to express your comfort level with contact.
Red = distance please, no contact
Yellow = fist and elbow bumps are ok
Green = bring on the handshakes and hugsWe will cap registration attendance at 250 people to allow appropriate social distancing.
Seating for sessions and meals will be at round tables, allowing for appropriate spacing.
You will be asked to sign a Safety Pledge and Liability Waiver at the registration desk before you will be admitted into the conference. Click here to read the Safety Pledge and Liability Waiver prior to attending.
The resolution occurs about 25-minutes into the meeting on December 2, 2020.