Who is Finding America? Meet AIR’s New Localorians AIR’s independent producers team up with station collaborators at the margins of local communities where public media doesn’t reach. In nine months, Localore producers will carry us beyond the headlines, plumb the hidden seams of culture, engage citizens to design new media models, and illuminate in fresh ways the rich diversity of our nation.

ANACOSTIA: UNMAPPED AT WAMU (WASHINGTON, D.C.) CREATOR: Katie Davis | Anacostia, a historically black and underreported STATION COLLABORATOR: neighborhood, is where we plant a new bureau, train the community, Brendan Sweeney and invite them to file short spots for broadcast and online, and show Managing Producer for New us an answer to the question “What if a radio station sounded like the Content and Innovation people it covers?”

BALTIMORE: THE RISE OF CHARM CITY AT WEAA (BALTIMORE, MARYLAND) CREATOR: Stacia Brown | It used to be called Charm City. Now, our STATION COLLABORATOR: team will seek the hidden, forgotten allure of Baltimore—and its Anthony McCarthy modern charms, too—with storytelling in homes, assisted living Host, The Anthony facilities, libraries, churches, and community centers. McCarthy Show

BEYOND BELIEF: KANSAS CITY’S MOSAIC OF FAITH AND SPIRIT AT KCPT (KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI) CREATOR: Steve Mencher | With digital and broadcast storytelling and STATION COLLABORATOR: events designed with partners in the interfaith community, we explore Janet Saidi the interplay of religious life—and lives in which religion is absent— Vice President for News with youth culture, race, civic engagement and economic disparity.

DÍMELO: STORIES OF THE SOUTHWEST AT KUAZ (TUCSON, ARIZONA) CREATOR: Sophia Paliza-Carre | Find the Mailboxes, placed in corners STATION COLLABORATOR: of Tucson where public media doesn’t often visit to collect anonymous Mariana Dale stories with a prompt of the week. The Project responds to civic issues Online Reporter and themes with multimedia in Spanish and English.

EVERY ZIP PHILADELPHIA AT WHYY (PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA) CREATORS: Alex Lewis with Yowei Shaw | What could we STATION COLLABORATOR: find if we mapped Philadelphia’s data across its 48 ZIP Jeanette Woods codes? What do people share, and where, and why? WHYY Community Media Editor and Philadelphia’s residents rep ZIP code pride, meet neighbors, and discover a city they didn’t know existed.

FINDING ENSLEY AT WBHM (BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA) CREATOR: Mary Quintas | In Birmingham’s Ensley community, media STATION COLLABORATOR: coverage centers on violent crime. We discover a fuller portrait of life Rachel Osier Lindley there, driven by people telling their own stories about life, not just News Director death—and through those stories, we find connections to the rest of the city.

FRONTIER OF CHANGE AT KNBA (ANCHORAGE, ALASKA) CREATORS: Isaac Kestenbaum and Josie Holtzman | In Alaska, climate STATION COLLABORATOR: change not only threatens the natural world, it threatens cultural Joaqlin Estus history held by rural and Native communities. Frontier of Change News Director builds immersive soundwalks of a land and community caught in sudden, radical transformation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT Localore: Finding America Network Manager Adriana Gallardo ([email protected]; 617-825-4400; airmedia.org/localore). HOMEFRONT AT NCPR (CANTON, NEW YORK) CREATOR: Meredith Turk | One percent of America’s population bears STATION COLLABORATOR: a large burden: military service. Who is in the military? How do their David Sommerstein families cope and connect? In the stronghold of the 10th Mountain Assistant News Director and Division, we are developing a model to get inside the life of groups Reporter that live and work within a closed loop.

INVISIBLE NATIONS AT KOSU (TULSA, OKLAHOMA) CREATOR: Allison Herrera | Thirty-nine native tribes with history, STATION COLLABORATOR: community and stories are hidden in plain sight in metro Tulsa. With Rachel Hubbard curiosity, creativity and shared craft, we’re drawing on them to share Content Director a sound and feel that isn’t typical radio, but reflects the oldest, deepest culture in the city.

PRECIOUS LIVES: BEFORE THE GUNSHOTS AT WUWM (MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN) CREATORS: Eric Von with Brad Lichtenstein | STATION COLLABORATOR: Milwaukee’s inner city is engulfed in an epidemic of gun Michelle Maternowski violence. Through stories and live events created by and Digital Coordinator with people touched by this violence, we examine the roots of the bloodshed in an effort to improve life for everyone in the city.

STORYMAKERS AT WUNC (DURHAM, ) CREATOR: John Biewen | Our storymakers—15 people raised in one STATION COLLABORATOR: of the most racially balanced cities in the South—explore divisions David Brower of race, class, and opportunity through a new public media platform Program Director created in partnership with Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies.

TRUCKBEAT AT WUOT (KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE) CREATOR: Jess Mador | What challenges do you face? What makes STATION COLLABORATOR: you curious? What keeps you up at night? TruckBeat’s “Question Truck” Matt Shafer Powell will record Tennessee’s Appalachian voices. In real time, online and Director of News Content on the air, TruckBeat’s multimedia reporting will uncover hidden stories in this underreported region.

UNMONUMENTAL AT WVTF (RICHMOND, ) CREATOR: Kelley Libby | Richmond’s African Burial Ground rests under STATION COLLABORATOR: I-95 and at the center of debate about where to place a new stadium. Connie Stevens It’s the first stop for a public radio and art enterprise that introduces News Director us to many of Richmond’s hidden or forgotten sites and the people who cross these spaces.

UNPRISONED: STORIES FROM THE SYSTEM AT WWNO (NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA) CREATOR: Eve Abrams | From the world’s incarceration capital, we STATION COLLABORATOR: meet those serving time inside and outside the criminal justice system. Jason Saul Unprisoned shares stories across platforms and perceived social Digital Director lines, to incite conversation about the ways mass incarceration affects families, communities, and notions of justice.

WHAT’S THE FLUX?: COMMUTER DISPATCHES AT KBCS (BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON) CREATOR: Mona Yeh | A daily ritual—the commute—shapes our STATION COLLABORATOR: exploration of mobility, access and economic movement from the Sonya Green margins of a city to its center. With broadcast, texts, social media and News Director bus ads, we bring curiosity to hidden, nonstop migration.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT Localore: Finding America Network Manager Adriana Gallardo ([email protected]; 617-825-4400; airmedia.org/localore).