In 2014, WNIN-FM continued serving our community with hourly local newscasts throughout the day and a weekly public affairs program. We added resources- two journalists, one full-time and one part-time, expanded our bilingual reporting and added an ambitious new program to ensure quality journalism in all parts of our listening area.
Our Day Out broadcasts took us out of the studio and into a community in our area for an entire day. In 2014, we produced four of the broadcasts, and plan to double that number in 2015. There is an example in this entry, in May 2014 from New Harmony, Indiana. If you want to understand the true depth of the extensive research and production effort of our Day Out broadcasts, please check out the link provided with this entry.
Here is a rundown of the audio:
:00-5:44 Hard news examples
1. Two-way with Purdue University student shortly after a fatal shooting on campus.
2. Charges filed in a fatal fire
3. Evansville City Council votes to fund expansion of IU Medical School
4. Evansville City Council votes to fund new convention center hotel
5. Project in #4 above, shut down in December due to lack of private funding
6. Live report from a pro-police rally in downtown Evansville.
5:44-11:00 Feature examples (Examples cut for length)
1. Three autistic teens gain speech through typing (Led to 60 min. public affairs prog.)
2. Yarn Ball Wisdom
3. A tour of an e-cigarette production facility
11:00-15:13 Coverage of Presidential Visit Oct. 3, 2014
1. Live from studio and Evansville airport on the arrival of Air Force One
2. Live from Princeton, Indiana at the site of the visit
3. President Obama live Q&A at the event
NOTE: Our total coverage spanned the entire day, including several feature reports and a 60 min. Trend program just prior to his arrival. The distance from our studio to the airport is about five miles, with the actual event happening 17 miles north of the airport. It was a challenging production for a staff of four, plus two part-time employees.
15:13-21:20 Day Out in New Harmony, May 2014
1. Morning Edition clip of scene setter with business owners
2. Two clips from the Trend, including a scene setter and an audio tour of the Workingmen's Institute.
3. Two clips from All Things Considered, including discussion of "sundown laws" and a sneak peek of a play under development at a writer's workshop.
4. Opening of evening community concert
NOTE: Our coverage spanned 14 hours, with two location changes during the day in this small town on the banks of the Wabash River. Please note links to two letters from New Harmony officials in recognition of our coverage.
21:20-24:18 The Trend, Autism Spectrum Disorder
1. This program almost never aired. Upon beginning our production of it, there was an immediate and vitriolic response from some members of the community. Even though this is a short segment of a 60 minute program, we think you’ll see the courage and skill displayed in having two teens with severe autism spectrum disorder answer listener questions during a live program. This program came out of Cass Herrington’s work on the feature listed in that section of our entry. What we don’t time to show you is the extensive research, research auditing and interviewing that went into this program to show our listeners that supportive typing, using new technology, is a valid therapy for the teens.
24:18-28:20 Newscast
1. For our newscast entry, we chose one from Jan. 6, 2014 on a bad weather day. In 2014, WNIN-FM increased staffing during severe weather, with live reports on traffic, school closings and spot news related to the event.