Laura Walker: Amplifying the Voice of New York Public Radio

Walker was the first nonmayoral appointee to the NYC public radio platform put in place by the team that acquired the station from the city in 1996 to deliver it back from the brink by embracing change and upping quality programming During Walker39s tenure NYPR has been honored with 10 Peabody Awards While Walker is the first to acknowledge the imperative of hiring well and nurturing talent her own experiences as a journalist and producer plus visible enthusiasm for innovation are definite factors in the NYPR turnaroundamp160quotEarly on we decided there are two different platforms herequot she explained quotThere39s radio and there39s podcasting and some people will use them very similarly and some very differentlyamp160 We39re still bullish on radio it39s still the primary way to listen but now available more ways like on smartphones and Sonos So we decided to disrupt ourselves and find interesting connections between radio and podcasting and on demandquotA New Kind of JournalismOne of the most impressive new efforts is NYPR39s approach to election coverage Electionlandamp160a firstever realtime reporting collaboration with Pro Publica Google USA Today Univision and others will look at what39s happening with voter problems from registration to the very ability to vote not just in NYC but nationwideWalker noted that on Election Day we often hear of voting issues like long lines voters being turned away or names not appearing on rolls amp160but these problems surface too late in the day to rectify amp160quotSo for our Election Central with CUNY Journalism School and other partners we39ll use Google and social media to see where people are mentioning those problems then we39ll verify and report on it through a network of brethren public radio stations bloggers and print and Univision will report in Spanishquot she continued quotIt39s a great multiplatform new kind of journalism and the kind of reporting you can only do now with technologyamp160and through a big big partnership with a lot of different peoplequotWhat39s Old is New AgainAfter a decade of building podcasts during which NYPR quotstayed in it when people said this is crazyquot Walker saidamp160 the advent of mobile phones and the iPhone app paid off for the organization But NYPR took the ondemand storytelling platform to a new level with the formation of WNYC Studios one year ago and can already boast an enviable 26 million downloads as of last monthamp160quotIt39s amazing how fertile it39s been we39ve launched 8 new podcasts amp8211 some defined length and some ongoing seriesquot she said quotWe39ve had aamp160tremendous success in terms of reach and audience but a success for the goal we set To build a place that39s a creative center for podcasting that brings new and existing talent togetheramp160and experiments with different voices and platformsquotThey have incubated and encouraged those diverse voices with efforts that include a Podcast Acceleratoramp160established last year to find emerging talent in the space and Werk It the industry39s only allwomen conference which features workshops networking and panel discussionsNow Announcing amp8230quotWe39re very proud to announce our next podcast called 39Nancy39amp160launching early 2017quot Walker said quotI love that it39s one of the winners from among 400plusamp160entries of the Podcast Accelerator that we held in 2015 It39s two people best friends amp160with conversations surrounding the LGBTQ experience It39s a lot of fun and can also be poignant Plus we39ll have our second season of More Perfectamp160and other things in the works like piloting with Vanity FairquotWalker39s passion and determination to grow evolve and serve is tangible in explaining their goals for authenticity and diversityamp160quotI think around 911 I understood how important it was to have solid NYbased journalism that was really listening to the needs of the community at that timequot she recalled quotIt was the act of saving the station and seeing how important that was that just said there was a huge thirst and need for what we had quotWhen asked to consider additional factors that have driven the growth in listeners Walker talkedamp160about supporting creative talent and disrupting themselves amp160not just for the sake of innovation but to innovate as a way to appeal to more audience and thus serve the public bestamp160quotI39m really interested in how to combine the power of story with how to engage and to provoke amp160or convene amp160a different kind of public discourse and to use the technology to enable thatquot she replied amp160quotWNYC was one of the first stations on the dial and one of the first to stream and to podcast It39s a public serviceamp160 The first question you have to ask is how do you reach more and new peopleamp160We are lucky to be guided by a strong sense of public service amp8230 and a New York spirit of entrepreneurism We just had to disrupt ourselves and the prize is reaching all those peoplequotAnd that is the short version of the storyThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Laura Walker: Amplifying the Voice of New York Public Radio

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