WNIN-FM has quite a story to tell for 2017.
We are a community-licensed, medium market public radio station that, in recent years, has turned outward to the community we serve. It has paid off, with significant gains in audience, revenue and recognition for a previously failing organization.
What was a stodgy, NPR pass-through is now a vibrant, vital, multimedia, local news organization. For example:
· The Twitter Moment we created to communicate a major breaking news story- a story told simultaneously in images, video, social media and broadcast. Security camera footage was added when it became available in hopes of easing racial tensions caused by the police shooting of an African-American man in broad daylight in downtown Evansville.
· Our bilingual podcast, ¿Qué Pasa Midwest?, providing a voice and community for bilingual millennials seeking those essential elements of family and community.
· The year-long investigation that prompted action at the highest levels of the Indiana court system and uncovered over ten thousand tainted criminal and disability claims cases, also featuring video, social media and broadcast appeals for potential victims.
· Our Day Out broadcasts and advance care planning event, where we take the station out into the communities we serve in Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.
There are many more examples with this entry and on wnin.org.
WNIN-FM is no longer the Evansville, Indiana NPR affiliate. We are instead the strong media arm of the community- providing relevant, essential local journalism and yes, NPR programming.
WNIN-FM has a staff of five full-time employees, including general manager Steve Burger. The staff hosts and operates the station while producing local news.
The entry rundown is below. We hope you enjoy listening to this entry as much as we enjoyed producing the local news in it. We ask for your support of our entry for the high honor of an Edward R. Murrow award.
Entry rundown:
00-2:21- Breaking news report of police shooting that aired within three hours of the incident.
2:22-14:00- Excerpts of two of four feature reports and an audio documentary produced by WNIN of our year-long investigation into the impact of a psychologist’s confession that he falsified a mental evaluation in a criminal case. That impact is significant and ongoing. (NOTE: The first two features in the series were produced in conjunction with Side Effects Public Media and are therefore not included in this entry)
14:01-16:54- Clip of intense discussion at an Advanced Care Planning forum hosted by WNIN at the University of Southern Indiana.
16:55-19:56- Excerpt of an episode of our bilingual podcast, ¿Qué Pasa Midwest? about an incident of local racial violence with a shocking reference to the election of Donald Trump.
19:57-24:04- Examples of local news of the day coverage, including the aftermath of a tornado outbreak, local business news and a new program at the Vanderburgh County prosecutor’s office that includes a wet nose.
24:05-25:35- Excerpt of one-hour, live coverage of the ribbon cutting of a new downtown convention hotel that included several interviews with newsmakers as well as the excitement of the event.
25:25-26:40- Short feature seeking the most quirky souvenir available in Hopkinsville, Kentucky for the 2017 solar eclipse.
26:41-30:41 December 1, 2017 afternoon newscast on the day of yet another breaking news story.