IMPACT REPORT 2020 LETTER to the MISSION WSIU Public Broadcasting Exists to Improve the Quality of COMMUNITY Life of the People We Serve
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COMMUNITY IMPACT REPORT 2020 LETTER TO THE MISSION WSIU Public Broadcasting exists to improve the quality of COMMUNITY life of the people we serve. Through programs, services, and outreach, WSIU partners with other community organizations to promote positive change, and to support While FY20 was filled with challenges, it the academic and public service missions of Southern also provided a unique opportunity for us to Illinois University Carbondale. The station is licensed to demonstrate the power of public media to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University and improve the quality of life in the communities we broadcasts across seven states and beyond through five serve. Public media’s strength has always been PBS and three NPR stations, the Southern Illinois Radio rooted in insightful programming and service, but this year our partnerships at Information Service (SIRIS), wsiu.org, and other digital the local level with educators, social service organizations, civic organizations, platforms. and local leaders came into greater focus with the onset of the pandemic. These relationships, established over our 60+ year history, allowed us to serve in a unique role, as a community connector – working with others to deliver VISION essential resources and information to our audience of nearly five million WSIU is an essential public resource that combines the people in parts of six states including Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, power of media with the power of people to strengthen Tennessee, Arkansas, and 67-of the 102 counties in Illinois. our communities. As always, the WSIU stations remained committed to the community as a trusted source for news and information and we proudly continued our work VALUES to support our region’s children, families, and educators during these most WSIU strives to achieve our mission and vision by difficult times. At no time has this commitment been of more importance as incorporating the values of integrity, fairness, balance, our friends and neighbors sought credible and reliable information about the diversity, sustainability, collaboration, and excellence in pandemic and its impact at the state and local level. making decisions and taking action. WSIU Radio provided the latest news and information about the coronavirus - talking with local and state agencies, health officials, and local leaders about CHANNELS the issues impacting our viewing and listening areas. The station also carried over-the-air and online coverage of Gov. JB Pritzker’s daily COVID-19 briefings WSIU TV - Carbondale WUSI TV - Olney to keep listeners informed. HD: 8.1 HD: 16.1 CREATE: 8.2 CREATE: 16.2 In response to the ever-changing needs of families and educators within WORLD: 8.3 WORLD: 16.3 our region, we re-imagined our educational and community outreach PBS KIDS 24/7: 8.4 PBS KIDS 24/7: 16.4 service models, transitioning many of these services online. In April 2020, WSEC TV - Springfield WQEC TV - Quincy we implemented our Public Media Resources for Home Learning initiative HD: 14.1 HD: 27.1 which provided home-based learning support for middle and high school CREATE: 14.2 CREATE: 27.2 students and educators through national and local instructional television WORLD: 14.3 WORLD: 27.3 content paired with state-aligned digital educational resources from PBS PBS KIDS 24/7: 14.4 PBS KIDS 24/7: 27.4 LearningMedia. WMEC TV - Macomb WSIU Radio WSIU has maintained our commitment to student professional development HD: 22.1 WSIU 91.9FM, Carbondale providing opportunities for students to gain recognition and exposure at CREATE: 22.2 WUSI 90.3FM, Olney the national level. We continued our partnership with SIUC students in Mass WORLD: 22.3 WVSI 88.9FM, Mt. Vernon Communication and Media Arts to remotely film the student-produced PBS KIDS 24/7: 22.4 web stream + mobile app River Region Evening Edition newscast, ensuring these dedicated students received hands-on training when many campuses moved to online instruction. Web: WSIU.ORG • NEWS.WSIU.ORG The station also maintained our commitment to the arts returning as a producing partner for the 2019 PBS Short Film Festival with our film submission, Balloon Girl written by Daniel Errico and directed by Shabnam CONTACT US Rezaei. Communications Building – Room 1003, SIU Carbondale 1100 Lincoln Drive - MC 6602, Carbondale, IL 62901 In a year so filled with challenges, there were still moments to celebrate. We Phone: (618) 453-4344 • Fax: (618) 453-6186 were thrilled for the continued support for our One Region, All Neighbors [email protected] • [email protected] initiative to support kindness, good deeds, compassion, empathy, and neighborly behavior. SOCIAL MEDIA Now, more than ever, we understand our important role as a community facebook.com/wsiutv partner and we are thankful for members like YOU who provide the financial facebook.com/wsiuradio support that enables us to use the power of public media to improve the facebook.com/wsiuliteracy quality of life in our region and beyond. @wsiutv @wsiuliteracy @wsiuradio @wsectv - Jak Tichenor, youtube.com/wsiutv Interim Executive Director, WSIU Public Broadcasting youtube.com/wsectv @wsiunextgen STUDENT TRAININGTITLE #2 STUDENT PROFILE: Jacob Gordon Students have long played an integral part of WSIU’s overall operation. Students receive training, but they also provide critical support in all aspects of the broadcasting service, from operations to news, corporate support and outreach. Jacob Gordon knows a lot about the varying ways a student can leave their mark on WSIU. He did it himself. Gordon worked his way up as a student in the River Region Evening Edition student TV Newscast, eventually becoming the programs Student News Director. “Jacob was much more than a hard worker. He cared about the overall product, about the students producing that product, and about the audience he serves,” WSIU Associate Director for News & Public Affairs Jennifer Fuller said. “His desire to work hard and deliver the best product was evident from his early morning arrival to his late night departure.” Jacob was quick to help new students learn the ropes, but also would assert his authority and experience where and when it was necessary. That was an invaluable trait as COVID-19 sent SIUC students home halfway through their Spring 2020 semester, forcing RREE into TRAINING THE hiatus far earlier than he expected. NEXT GENERATION But Jacob didn’t go home. He stayed, and continued to help WSIU provide OF BROADCASTERS the reliable, relevant, regional news our audience has come to expect. Jacob WSIU is one of only a handful of stations in the country to offer college students direct, produced news from daily COVID-19 hands-on experience in all aspects of the broadcast industry. Each year, more than 100 updates, helped afternoon anchor SIU Carbondale students work alongside WSIU’s professional staff, serving as producers, Brad Palmer stay on top of the latest directors, reporters, news anchors, camera operators, audio and lighting technicians, and information, and even anchored a few of more. Graduates serve with distinction at radio, television, and cable outlets in the U.S. and the newscasts. abroad and at high-profile media organizations such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and ESPN. Jacob graduated from SIUC in May of 2020. While he’s missed at SIU, we’re proud to see he’s continuing what he started in our region, as a Producer at ABC-affiliate WSIL just down the road in Photo: Top to bottom: Jacob Gordan; Credit: Pearl Franz. | Behind the scenes in the River Region Evening Edition control room; Credit Abby Hargrave. Carterville. # TITLE SERVICE AREA MAP WSIU PUBLIC BROADCASTING Circles depict approximate broadcast signal reach. Shaded counties depict the WSIU, WUSI, WSEC, WMEC, & WQEC assigned Nielsen Designated Market Areas (DMAs), where the stations also are car-ried on home satellite services and on many cable systems. IOWA ILLINOIS INDIANA W MEC-DT MISSOURI W SEC-DT WQEC-DT WUSI FM 9 0 . 3 W VSI FM 88.9 W USI-TV 1 6 W SIU-TV 8 W SIU FM 9 1 . 9 KENTUCKY TENNESSEE KEY SERVICES 4 2020 KEY SERVICES MAINTAINED our commitment to provide fact- CONTINUED partnerships with public media stations based reporting and analysis of local, national, and with collaborative reporting projects focused on state international news stories. legislative activities. ENCOURAGED social media followers to appreciate PARTICIPATED for the third year as a producing the arts with ticket giveaways to performances at partner with the PBS Short Film Festival by submitting a variety of regional theaters such as the McLeod an animated digital short, Balloon Girl from Big Bad Theater, SIU (Carbondale, IL), Cedarhurst Center for Boo Studios, that achieved finalist status and earned the Arts (Mt. Vernon, IL), and the UIS Performing Arts third most popular film. Center (Springfield, IL). FACILITATED dialogue to encourage citizenship via AMPLIFIED local voices and perspectives with WSIU’s Indie Lens Pop-Up film screening program. new episodes of our local television productions The films featured during FY20 included: Always in CapitolView and Illinois Stories. Season (February 2020), The First Rainbow Coalition (December 2019), and Decade of Fire (November 2019), COLLABORATED with the Department of Radio, and others. Television, and Digital Media at SIUC to bring NPR national desk correspondent Wade Goodwyn to SERVED individuals who are blind or visually-impaired campus for “A Conversation with Wade Goodwyn” in with approximately 40-hours per week of original October 2019. descriptive and spoken language content through the Southern Illinois Radio Information Service (SIRIS). PRESENTED A Bad Deal: My Vietnam War Story at a special event at the Galena Center for the Arts in INSPIRED 225 people with Indie Lens Pop-Up February 2020. screenings, focus groups, and community conversations. INVESTED in new technology and equipment to improve service quality for television and radio SUPERVISED university cinema students in the audiences across our service region.