Nashville Public Radio is among 75 public media organizations selected to participate in the Digital Transformation Program, a virtual program developed by the Poynter Institute to educate, assist, and coach public media senior leaders and their staff on the best strategies and tactics to transform their organization’s digital operations and culture. The training is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
“Nashville Public Radio has nearly doubled our size in the last three years as we seek to provide our many communities in Middle Tennessee with more trusted journalism and a place for local music discovery,” says Steve Swenson, President & CEO of Nashville Public Radio. “This program will allow us to provide audiences with greater access to our public service content across more digital platforms.”
“CPB’s commitment to advancing innovation and diversity continues to be reflected through our strategic investments helping system leaders advance a digital-first, audience-centric approach,” says Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “The program will provide coaching and resources to help stations become more agile and leverage digital content, platforms, and data to grow and engage new and existing public media audiences.”
In addition to one-on-one and peer group coaching sessions, the program will include a series of educational webinars, work exercises, and resource materials that span the program curriculum.
“The selected participants are some of the nation’s most trusted sources citizens turn to for local news and information,” says Poynter President Neil Brown. “Our partnership with CPB will help public media outlets build digital-first strategies that inspire an even greater — and more sustainable — connection to grow with their communities.”
The stations selected include 40 public radio stations, 16 public television stations and 19 joint licensees. They will join the five National Multicultural Alliance Organizations – Black Public Media, the Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, Pacific Islanders in Communications, and Vision Maker Media – to form four cohorts of 20 public media leaders, who will participate in the nine-month program. The first cohort will begin training in January.
WPLN’s news team has grown from 10 journalists in 2019 and now has 25 journalists. While most newsrooms across the country are shrinking, WPLN News continues to grow thanks to the support of its listeners and corporate sponsors.
