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St. Louis Public Radio 2017 Annual Report

Today, half a million people a month - and growing - turn to St. Louis Public Radio to learn about, explore, and engage in their community and their world. Dating back to the Pulitzers, St. Louis has a deep and proud history as a journalism city. In a city where most primary newspapers, radio, and TV stations are no longer locally owned, St. Louis Public Radio continues to be owned and managed right here in St. Louis, free of commercial interest.

We now have the largest radio or TV newsroom in St. Louis. Our journalists find and tell important stories about communities across the St. Louis metropolitan region, in Quincy, Illinois, and in Rolla and Lebanon, Missouri.

As the region’s NPR station, we also connect our audiences to award-winning, top-rated national and global news from one of the most trusted brands in the United States. We carry NPR’s flagship programs Morning Edition​ and All Things Considered, ​ which were recently recognized as the two most-listened-to news/talk radio programs in the country. According to Podtrac Industry Ranker, NPR remains the number one publisher of podcasts since May 2016.

Letter from the General Manager Tim Eby

Everything we do at St. Louis Public Radio demonstrates our commitment to provide news that our audiences need about their community and their world. For our listeners, our mission is to inform, inspire, and engage.

Nearly every day, our community members share what St. Louis Public Radio means to them. They write us. They send us messages on social media. They tell us when they’re at one of our events, or when they see our staff out in the community. They tell their friends and family. This year we’ve seen record-breaking fundraising and audience growth and know that both directly reflect the incredible work of our news and program teams.

Local journalism is the lifeblood of communities. It is the glue that creates a shared sense of identity and engages citizens in solving shared problems. As one of St. Louis’ last locally owned news organizations, we know that unbiased, influence-free reporting is foundational to a strong and thriving region, and that St. Louis Public Radio must continue to lead in distributing content through emerging technologies and digital formats.

Service to our community is the sole focus of our work. With the continued help of our generous supporters, we will remain an essential community resource for the generations to come.

Welcome Rolla Listeners and Donors

In 2017, we partnered with Missouri University of Science & Technology and assumed operations of KMST in Rolla. The partnership expanded NPR news and programs to listeners in the Rolla and Lebanon areas.

“St. Louis Public Radio means exceptional community service in the form of top-notch news reporting and cultural/entertainment programming. I’m a 30+ year supporter of NPR and grateful for St. Louis Public Radio’s service to Rolla.” – Joan Nesbitt, Rolla
“St. Louis Public Radio is my only authentic reliable news source period.” – Ifeanyi Orizu, Rolla
“I live in the Rolla area and initially was concerned when you absorbed KMST. I thought we'd lose too much local ‘flavor’ …; however, I believe you have reached out to our area with interviews and bits of news to make KMST's fans feel included. … Thank you for coming to Rolla!” – Joanne M. Holmes, Rolla

Welcome 1A with Joshua Johnson

On January 2, 2017, NPR debuted 1A​ With Joshua Johnson, a show inspired by the First Amendment. Host Joshua Johnson described the show as a “chance to tell stories more creatively, to explore ideas beyond our own, and to refocus on serving others.”

Within weeks of 1A’s ​ debut, listeners began sharing their comments about the show.

“I love the various viewpoints, especially on 1A.”
“Many civil voices, including some I disagree with. Thanks 1A.”
“I’m a regular listener and have been for the past 32 years. I enjoy the longer format of the news reports and particular fond of [1A’s] Friday News Round Up.”

Election Coverage = Informed Voters

Our newsroom kept voters informed throughout local and national election cycles. Political reporters Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum provided live coverage of the Republican and Democratic Conventions on St. Louis on the Air​. We carried the vice presidential debate and the final two presidential debates and provided analysis and fact-checking. St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh held a two hour town hall for listeners to examine four of the statewide measures on the November 8 ballot. And St. Louis Public Radio’s news team offered special coverage of Election Night 2016 in Missouri and Illinois.

St. Louis Public Radio also covered the St. Louis and Ferguson mayoral races. In March, Jason Rosenbaum and Rachel Lippmann co-hosted a forum for St. Louis city mayoral candidates in advance of the primary election in March. St. Louis on the Air ​also recorded, hosted, and aired a forum that featured Ferguson mayoral candidates, John Knowles III and Ella Jones.

The Millennium Mayor Podcast

Mayor Slay’s decision not to run for a fifth term inspired the St. Louis Public Radio news team to create "The Millennium Mayor" podcast, an examination of Slay’s tenure that explored six issues he faced while in office and how his actions (or inaction) shaped St. Louis in the last 16 years. Seven of our reporters contributed, with a culminating episode that looked forward to what Mayor Lyda Krewson would likely face.

In 2017, St. Louis Magazine selected "The Millennium Mayor"​ as part of its 2017 A-List for media.

We Live Here​ was designed to look deeply into St. Louis’ racial fault lines and untangle a web of disparities brought to the fore following the 2014 death of Michael Brown. It continues to refine the way personal narratives can be used as a means to dismantle systems built on a foundation of racist ideas. It’s an approach that has garnered St. Louis Public Radio and the show’s two producers, Tim Lloyd and Kameel Stanley, critical praise. We Live Here​ was also one of a handful of public radio-based podcasts from around the country to be selected for Project Catapult, a three-year, ground-breaking partnership with PRX, a podcasting company that distributes popular national shows such as This American Life, The Moth, Criminal, ​ and Reveal.

In 2017, We Live Here earned the inaugural Kaleidoscope Award from the Radio Television News Directors Association, an international honor for coverage of diversity.

Race, Identity and Culture

Funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, "Sharing America" is a collaborative initiative of four public radio stations who report on issues that lie at the intersection of race, culture, and identity. Editor Holly Edgell and her team aim to expand notions about what public radio can do to spark and challenge the status quo and to encourage colleagues to incorporate new themes, voices, and sources into their coverage.

In July, the Grand Center Theatre Crawl drew 1,200 people to the area, and nearly 500 of them came through UMSL at Grand Center and the Public Media Commons.

At the March 30 Talk, Toast, Taste annual dinner, more than 400 attendees were treated to a wonderful talk by NPR’s Sam Sanders, had the opportunity to purchase St. Louis Public Radio auction experiences, and took part in the first-ever Fund-A-Need effort by the station.

The Kitchen Sink Series included six events. Mostly Clean Comedy IV, Crafts Squared, and An Evening of Jazz took place early in the year. Generation Laughing STL, an evening with the next generation of stand-up comedians, drew a capacity crowd at UMSL at Grand Center, and in April we hosted Ignite with the Rep, and author Jen Sincero for a book talk.

Thank you for your support.

St. Louis Public Radio is a service of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

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