Author Archives: Florida Public Media

By Julian Wyllie, Current Reporter | February 3, 2020

Jill Hubbs will serve as interim GM of WSRE and executive director of the WSRE-TV Foundation in Pensacola, Fla.

Hubbs is replacing Bob Culkeen, who was named president and CEO of WTCI in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“I am grateful to Bob Culkeen for his service to the station, college and community. His accomplishments here have been significant, from launching the new WSRE PBS KIDS channel to completing technology upgrades that will serve us well into the future,” said Ed Meadows, president of Pensacola State College, which holds WSRE’s license. “We will miss his fun sense of humor, and we extend our congratulations to Ms. Hubbs on her new leadership role.”

Hubbs has been an EP for several WSRE productions, including Gulf Islands National Seashore: The Treasure of the Gulf Coast and Baseball in Pensacola. She produced They Were Their Fathers in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. She is a founding board member of Pensacola’s Veterans Memorial Park.

Hubbs began her career as a schoolteacher. She joined the Florida station in 1996 and has led several education initiatives with institutions like Weis Elementary School. She was most recently director of educational services and community outreach.

“Jill lives the mission of public television on and off the job. Her work at WSRE has positively impacted many lives in our community, particularly our children, teachers and military,” said Sandy Cesaretti Ray, the college’s associate VP of community and government relations. “Bob will be missed, and fortunately Jill is well poised to build upon his successes with a solid team at WSRE and PSC.”

Posted on February 10, 2020

ORLANDO – 90.7 WMFE has begun an ongoing collaboration with InsideClimate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-profit, non-partisan news organization dedicated to covering climate change, energy and the environment. WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville also participates in the collaborative.

WMFE environmental reporter Amy Green is a part of ICN’s new project Caught Off Guard: The Southeast Struggles with Climate Change, which features Southeast reporters’ stories on the progress and problems their communities face related to climate change. Journalists from nine newsrooms found communities struggling with funding or a lack of political will, and an urgent need for technological breakthroughs to meet global warming head-on.

Green’s story, Orlando Aims High With Emissions Cuts, Despite Uncertain Path, focuses on the city of Orlando’s promise to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050.

“As its population grows, the Southeast region is facing some of the biggest global warming threats in the United States. And it’s having a hard time rising to that challenge,” ICN Southeast reporter James Bruggers wrote. “We’re proud to bring you these stories, and proud of our work to revive and strengthen local environmental journalism.”

WMFE is part of the Southeast hub of ICN’s national environmental reporting network. The other members are fellow Florida station WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville, Raleigh News and Observer, West Virginia Public Broadcasting/Ohio Valley Resource, The Post and Courier, The State, BirminghamWatch, Georgia Public Broadcasting and WFAE.

WMFE is also part of the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times to report about climate change.

Green shared her Orlando emissions story with the Florida network, and the Orlando Sentinel published it in their print edition on Jan. 27.

Posted on January 29, 2020

State Resilience Officer Julia Nesheiwat speaks at an American Water Resources Association meeting in Ponte Vedra Beach in November of 2019.

BRENDAN RIVERS / ADAPT/WJCT NEWS

The newest edition of ADAPT, published Monday by WJCT Public Media, introduces a six-part podcast and web series profiling people working every day to help communities across the First Coast adapt to climate change and sea level rise.

Podcast guests range from Florida’s first-ever chief resilience officer to an environmental psychologist who teaches people how to talk about climate change more effectively.

Podcast host Brendan Rivers’ conversation with Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer Julia Nesheiwat marks her first one-on-one interview with a reporter since she was appointed in August. Nesheiwat shares the lessons she brings to the position from her time in the military and academia — and the time she created a federal bureau from the ground up.

“It’s too expensive to go at it alone,” she says in the ADAPT podcast. “We really need to collaborate.”

The other podcast guests are:

Adam Rosenblatt, a biology professor at the University of North Florida who breaks down the science of climate change and shares details about his advocacy efforts on the local, state and national level. Rosenblatt believes, “Doing more climate science is not going to solve the problem. We need to convince people to take action.”
Lauren Watkins, an environmental psychologist who teaches people how to have productive, non-polarizing conversations about environmental issues. She opens up her toolkit for us — and opens up about the communication challenges in her own family.
Richard Leon, Jacksonville’s Urban Forestry Manager, who says, “Half the city thinks I’m a tree butcher. The other half thinks I’m a tree hugger.” He sees trees as critical urban infrastructure and plans to plant as many as possible in the nation’s biggest city.
Shane Corbin, City Manager for Atlantic Beach, who discusses the LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) process that the entire city of Atlantic Beach undertook last year.
Sean Lahav, a 24-year-old who serves the Northeast Florida Regional Council as a Resiliency Coordinator. His job includes getting “movers and shakers” from the private sector to think about incorporating sea level rise into their plans. “Around the state of Florida, there’s a lot of momentum right now — in Jacksonville and elsewhere,” he said.

ADAPT is a digital-first publication at adaptflorida.org, devoted to researching, reporting, and engaging citizens on the many issues involved in adaptation to sea level rise across Northeast Florida. All six episodes of the ADAPT podcast series are available at adaptflorida.org and on all major podcast platforms.

In Florida, two-thirds of citizens rarely or never discuss climate change, and 67% say they hear about climate change in the media about once a month or less, according to polling data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason Center for Climate Change Communication.

“These poll results are disheartening, but as a journalist who covers climate change, I see an opportunity. With this special edition of ADAPT and the podcast, we at WJCT are trying to provide our readers and listeners with the tools they need to confidently and effectively talk about the most pressing issue of our time,” explained ADAPT reporter Brendan Rivers.

The first edition of ADAPT, published in June 2019, included original reporting about the effects of climate change on everything from endangered species to drinking water, coastal economies and the U.S. Navy, as well as curated stories about what’s happening in other places.

To sign up to receive notice of future editions, visit adaptflorida.org/sign-up/.

The public is also invited to talk with climate change experts and hear what they can do, collectively, to deal with rising waters at WJCT’s annual ADAPT Summit at WJCT Studios on June 4, 2020.

Posted on January 27, 2020

Public Media’s National and Local Content Put a Spotlight on the Issue and Community Connections Inspired Volunteerism with Youth and Education Resources in Classrooms. New independent research from NCES reveals encouraging data about nation’s progress, with black students graduating on par with white counterparts

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 21, 2020) — For over nine years, the public media initiative American Graduate, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), has worked successfully to help young people, predominately black and Hispanic students, stay on the path to a high school diploma. Through programming and partnerships with over 1700 organizations, public media stations in nearly every state helped communities understand what students needed to graduate.

The American Graduate initiative inspired citizens to mentor these young people, helping them overcome great obstacles and ultimately graduate from high school. In 2017, the national high school graduation rate rose to an unprecedented level and now a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics, “Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2019,” shows that for the first time in 40 years, African American 18-to-24-year-olds completed high school in 2017 at a rate on par with white 18-to-24-year-olds. The graduation gap between white and Hispanic students also decreased significantly.

“These results affirm that our nation’s young people, with the support of a caring adult, can succeed in school and beyond,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “The nation’s public media stations, locally owned and connected to the communities they serve, have made a profound positive difference in the lives of so many young Americans of all backgrounds.”

The national graduation rate was 79% in 2011, with African American and Hispanic students comprising some of the lowest completion rates. As a result of the steadfast commitment of initiatives around the country, such as American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, the national graduation rate rose to 84.6% in 2017 as reported in the 2019 Building A Grad Nation Report.
Through American Graduate, CPB provided grants to stations in states with the highest proportion of black students who had been failing to graduate, including Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Alabama Public Broadcasting, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Maryland Public Television, South Carolina Educational Television, Nashville Public Television, Nine Network of Public Media (St. Louis) and Florida Public Media.

“Public media stations – as trusted communicators, conveners, and capacity builders in local communities – help citizens understand the complex factors at play and what works in keeping students on track to graduate,” stated John Bridgeland, founder and CEO of Civic. “The work by American Graduate stations and the leadership from CPB has been vital to our nation’s progress on the local, state and national levels.”

In addition to national partners, including America’s Promise Alliance, Civic, Johns Hopkins University School of Education and Alliance for Excellence in Education, local stations through content and engagement raised awareness and inspired American Graduate Champions to work with youth. CPB supported national programming such as All the Difference, produced by Wes Moore in partnership with POV, which followed two black teens from Chicago on their journey to graduate from college; and Los Graduados, produced by Bernardo Ruiz in association with ITVS and Latino Public Broadcasting, which explored challenges faced by Latino high schools students.

CPB is now providing American Graduate: Getting to Work grants to public media stations to help young people prepare for and connect to jobs and careers.

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org and follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, and subscribe for other updates.

About American Graduate
American Graduate is public media’s long-term commitment to supporting community-based solutions to help young people succeed in school, career and life. Supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), more than 125 public television and radio stations have joined forces with over 1,700 partners to elevate the stories of youth and the supportive adults that help them succeed. Through American Graduate, public media, with its unique position as a trusted resource and important partner in local communities, provides a critical platform to shine a light on pathways to graduation and successful student outcomes. National and local reporting, on air and online is helping communities understand the challenges and community-driven solutions associated with education and future successes. Public forums, town halls and community conversations are activating discussions between community leaders, educators and more.

Posted on January 23, 2020

(BOSTON — January 21, 2019) –– “The World,” the daily global news and analysis program from PRX, WGBH, and the BBC, today announced “Every 30 Seconds,” a collaborative public media reporting project tracing the young Latino electorate ahead of the 2020 national election.

Funded by a $300,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, “Every 30 Seconds” will report on the issues, influences, concerns, and challenges driving decision-making and turnout among young Latino voters across the United States.

According to a recent count, approximately every 30 seconds, a Latino citizen in the United States reaches voting age (18). Further, 32 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote in 2020, up from 2016 and now one of the largest shares of nonwhite voters. Through deep engagement within communities and among Latino voters, “Every 30 Seconds” will delve into the complexities of demographics, language, law, and inequities within political systems.

This year-long project will launch in February with regular broadcasts on “The World” accompanied by digital components. From its newsroom in Boston, “The World” and Senior Editor Daisy Contreras will lead production of stories for national broadcast in partnership with public radio stations across the country. Digital Editor Tania Karas will lead production of digital stories and interactives.

Stations contributing to “Every 30 Seconds” will include:

KERA in Dallas, Texas;
KJZZ in Phoenix, Arizona;
KPBS in San Diego, California;
KUOW in Seattle, Washington;
WABE in Atlanta, Georgia;
WLRN in Miami, Florida; and
WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

This week, “The World” will host reporters from participating stations in Boston to convene with experts on demographic changes within the U.S. electorate and for PRX-led training focused on crafting stories for audio. PRX’s training initiatives also include the Google Podcasts creator program for creators around the world, and Project Catapult, an accelerator for public media.

“As citizens prepare to partake in our democratic process, this project is one of several CPB is supporting to further diversity and civility in our nation’s dialogue,” said Kathy Merritt, senior vice president of Journalism and Radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “‘Every 30 Seconds’ will also build journalism capacity at local public radio stations by connecting station partners to editing and story-planning training with ‘The World’ and PRX.”

“The 2020 election will be consequential, and it’s imperative that we report the story of our country at this moment in time in a way that best serves listeners,” Contreras said. “With reporting from coast to coast, ‘Every 30 Seconds’ will amplify stories while illuminating issues we hope will deepen understanding of our democracy.”

“’The World’ brings listeners nuanced storytelling that goes beyond the headlines,” said John Barth, chief content officer at PRX. “When we’re at our best, we put the personal and local, national and global, all in perspective, across borders and time zones. In this spirit, we’re thrilled to collaborate with our station colleagues on election-year reporting that won’t be heard elsewhere, and we’re grateful to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for their support.”

“The World” is heard on nearly 300 public radio stations across the United States.

From top to bottom/left to right: Esmy Jimenez (KUOW in Seattle), Martha Dalton (WABE in Atlanta), Stella Chávez (KERA in Texas), Daniel Rivero (WLRN in Miami), Monica Campbell (‘The World’), Michel Marizco (KJZZ in Arizona), Naomi Prioleau (WUNC in North Carolina) and Tania Karas (‘The World’).

About PRX
PRX is a non-profit media organization shaping the future of audio by producing and distributing content, building technology, and training talented, independent producers. PRX’s award-winning portfolio ranges from iconic public radio programs to a growing body of podcast-first productions. Each month, PRX reaches more than 28.5 million listeners and generates in excess of 70 million podcast downloads. More at prx.org.

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for other updates.

NEW LEADER COMES TO CENTRAL FLORIDA FROM CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE SHE SERVED AS VP OF RADIO

ORLANDO – The Board of Trustees of 90.7 WMFE | 89.5 WMFV announced today the appointment of Erika Pulley-Hayes as President and CEO.

Pulley-Hayes succeeds LaFontaine E. Oliver, who led the station since 2013, before returning to Baltimore in July to lead NPR member station WYPR.

Pulley-Hayes is currently vice president of Radio at the Washington, D.C.-based Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit steward of the federal government’s investment in public media, which supports the operations of over 1,500 locally owned public TV and radio stations. She will assume her new role on Jan. 13.

“WMFE|WMFV provides an important service to Central Florida, and this is an incredible opportunity to build upon the quality journalism and programming this organization delivers to the community,” Pulley-Hayes said. “I am very excited to join this team and continue working to enhance the local service that engages audiences across platforms.”

In her role at the CPB, Pulley-Hayes has provided strategic leadership to the public radio system by developing initiatives that sustain and advance public media service. She has driven innovation in a legacy industry through programs that enable public media organizations to respond to disruption and prepare for the future. She has extended public media to new audiences across platforms by providing podcasting expertise to local stations and developing a new format for multicultural millennials.

“We are excited to welcome Erika Pulley-Hayes to Central Florida,” WMFE|WMFV Board Chair Anne E. Kelley said. “She is uniquely positioned to continue her record of driving innovation, now on the local level, and to further our stations’ mission to engage new communities, both on our terrestrial airwaves as well as our growing number of digital platforms.”

More about Pulley-Hayes

Pulley-Hayes has worked at CPB since 2005 and has been responsible for managing daily operations, financial administration, grant programs, funding decisions and impact evaluation. She has worked to enhance local service and sustainability by identifying new business opportunities and operating models that increase organizational capacity.

She began her career as a legal assistant at a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. She later managed legal operations of a small clinical research organization in Virginia.

Pulley-Hayes holds an MBA and an MS in nonprofit management from the University of Maryland University College. She also holds a BA from William Paterson University in her home state of New Jersey. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing yoga, attending live events and traveling. She has two adult sons.

About Community Communications Inc.:
Community Communications Inc. is a non-profit, member-supported, community-based public broadcasting company that operates 90.7 WMFE-FM, metro Orlando’s primary provider of NPR programming; 90.7-2 Classical; and 89.5 WMFV, public radio for The Villages, Leesburg and The Golden Triangle. Part of the community since 1980, Community Communications focuses on providing quality national and local news and programming. Visit wmfe.org and wmfv.org for more information.

Posted on November 13, 2019

Best Buddies, peers, public media staff work together on digital project

(FORT MYERS, FLORIDA) – WGCU Public Media teamed up with Best Buddies of Southwest Florida the first weekend in November for a digital storytelling workshop that launched WGCU’s Move to Include initiative, which is ongoing and anticipates the 30^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in July 2020.

The ADA is the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.

Move to Include is a pilot project led by public media station WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. It began in 2014, and was made possible with the support of the Golisano Foundation and Tom Golisano – who also donated $20 million to build Southwest Florida’s Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Funded by a $645,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, this project includes multimedia elements developed by WXXI and the Golisano Foundation that combine content production, curation and engagement to encourage dialogue about disability issues.

“People with disabilities make up our single largest minority in this country,” explains WXXI President & CEO Norm Silverstein. “Now we’re proud to pilot Move to Include in five additional communities, using public media’s many platforms to promote equity and inclusion. Through Move to Include, we hope to build more inclusive communities by inspiring and motivating people to embrace different abilities and include all people in every aspect of community life.”

“Public media belongs to everyone, and Move to Include is an important part of our mission to ensure inclusion for people with disabilities,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “CPB is proud to support this effort to replicate through locally owned and operated public media stations, a community-based model that truly works.”

Move to Include encompasses PBS KIDS programs, prime-time curated TV specials, news and arts features, radio talk shows, educational segments, social media and online content, and screenings. A collection of 50 video segments on inclusion is distributed nationally through PBS LearningMedia, the go-to destination for classroom-ready, digital resources including videos, games, audio, photos and lesson plans.

Participating stations in Move to Include, including WGCU, are planning additional events through next summer and beyond that emphasize ability, rather than disability.

The storytelling workshop at WGCU, held Friday, Nov. 1 through Sunday, Nov. 3 in the Myra Janco Daniels Public Media Center on the FGCU campus, turned young people into filmmakers and public media staff into mentors.

“Buddies” with intellectual and developmental disabilities were paired with school-age “Peer Buddies” for the workshop. Five teams of two each created a short video on a topic of their choice, doing the interviewing, filming and editing themselves with the help of a member of the WGCU production crew. They did all of their work on kits consisting of an iPad, a tripod and bracket, headphones and two lavalier microphones.

The teenagers got acquainted Friday evening and learned some basics of film production from Betsy Newman, a documentary filmmaker from South Carolina who has conducted similar workshops for 25 years. They determined the topics of their videos and talked about interview questions.

The young filmmakers came back Saturday and got down to work, shooting B-roll, recording interviews and finally, editing videos.

Late Sunday afternoon, the teams finished editing and screened their works for friends, family and mentors over dinner at the station.

Savannah Louderback, a senior in business management at FGCU, worked with the buddy she has known for two years, Devin Cannon. For their video, Cannon talked about the second annual Friendship Ball that Best Buddies held recently and at which he was crowned king. About his film, he said, “It was so awesome!”

The point of the workshop, said Newman, was to “give kids an opportunity to express themselves, to find their voices, to learn about the experiences of others through the interview process.”

WGCU is one of the five PBS stations to participate in the national pilot project, which officially will kick off in July 2020.

“We are ecstatic over the success of WGCU’s first-ever Move to Include digital storytelling workshop,” said Amy Shumaker, Associate General Manager for Content, who worked on similar programs with Newman in South Carolina. “It is our mission in public media to bring diverse and inclusive voices to all of our broadcast platforms. By partnering with Best Buddies, we had a group of talented young people with differing abilities eager to learn the fundamentals of visual storytelling from our staff.”

Participating buddies were Cannon, Thomas Browning, Gianna Gaziano-Whalen, Miranda Huber and Will Thibado; peer buddies included Louderback, Rayne Roe and Celine Lobocchiaro, with some help from a couple of the teens’ fathers.

Best Buddies of Southwest Florida Executive Director Melanie Musick and Jennifer Mackler from Ida Baker High School were on hand to help. Mackler has worked with most of the students in the Best Buddies program.

“It can be tough for our students with physical or intellectual disabilities to connect with peers their age, but when we pair them with a buddy, it helps them to develop those skills in a safe way,” Mackler said.

About WGCU Public Media

WGCU is Southwest Florida’s source for PBS and NPR programming. As a member-supported service of Florida Gulf Coast University, WGCU’s mission is to provide educational programming that inspires, informs and engages our community. Serving all or part of 12 counties in South and Southwest Florida, with five distinct digital TV channels, two FM radio channels and two HD radio channels and multiple websites, WGCU delivers national and international programming and develops, produces and delivers relevant, informative and educational local programs to the region. More information about WGCU is available online at WGCU.org, and by following us Facebook at wgcupublicmedia.

About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org and follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, and subscribe for other updates.

Author Archives: Florida Public Media

By Julian Wyllie, Current Reporter | February 3, 2020

NEW LEADER COMES TO CENTRAL FLORIDA FROM CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE SHE SERVED AS VP OF RADIO

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