Local Content and Community Service

In order to receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, we are required to post responses to several questions about the community service provided by Northeast Indiana Public Radio.

Updated July 2023 
 
Telling Public Radio's Story:

2022 

1. Describe your overall goals and approach to address identified community issues, needs, and interests through your station’s vital local services, such as multiplatform long and short-form content, digital and in-person engagement, education services, community information, partnership support, and other activities, and audiences you reached or new audiences you engaged.

WBOI 89.1 Northeast Indiana Public Radio is committed to strengthening the cultural, civic and social fabric of the community it serves with news, programming and entertainment that ignites the human spirit and enhances the human experience.

Our programs are designed to directly support this mission by providing free access to high quality news and cultural programming. We provide in-depth reporting on the issues and
events most important to our community. We apply our core competencies of reporting and storytelling, our relationship with audiences, and our capacity for innovation to create a place where audiences connect and contribute to a shared understanding of their community, their country, and the world.

Our commitment to diversity engages community members from all walks of life and we weekly provide an in person musical experience that promotes community engagement.

2. Describe key initiatives and the variety of partners with whom you collaborated, including other public media outlets, community nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, the business community, teachers and parents, etc. This will illustrate the many ways you’re connected across the community and engaged with other important organizations in the area.

In 2022 WBOI continued to maintain programming partnerships with community-based organizations including the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW), University of St. Francis, Manchester University, Indiana Tech, Fort Wayne Community Schools, The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and Science Central.

We are an active partner in IPB News, a Regional Journalism
Collaborative (RJC) with eleven other Indiana public radio and TV
stations and CPB financial support. We collaborate on statewide
reporting on government and politics; business and the economy; health and science; and environmental and energy issues. The two editors and six reporters continue to increase the quantity and quality of our news reporting, both on-air and online, within our community and around the state.

 
3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served.

In 2022, WBOI launched Classical Kids, a program to connect youth from the local Boys and Girls Club to classical music through attending workshops and a classical concert performed by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Ten kids and two chaperones attended two concerts in 2022, as well as media and broadcasting workshops at WBOI. One child recorded a testimonial for the program:

"So far we've gotten to tour the radio station and attend a
philharmonic players' concert. Now we're getting ready for a career
workshop. WBOI is helping us learn about radio and music and spread our wings."

WBOI worked with Purdue Fort Wayne, University of Saint Francis and Ivy Tech to develop ongoing internship opportunities for students interested in journalism and broadcasting. As a result WBOI now has regular audio production interns which have increased our capabilities in production and social media and removed some work-related burdens from full-time
staff.

Comment from a WBOI donor:

“I can honestly say that I'd feel pretty disconnected if it weren't
for this station. WBOI tethers me to my community, and it transports me to so many different places, all over the world. With a flip of a switch or a command to my smart speaker, I can broaden my understanding of current events and the human experience - all while making my daily commute or doing chores around the house. As a busy person, this convenience factor is a gamechanger! I'm so grateful to have a resource I can rely on for local and national news, storytelling, and arts, and that's why I'm a proud supporter of WBOI.”

4. Please describe any efforts (e.g. programming, production, engagement activities) you have made to investigate and/or meet the needs of minority and other diverse audiences (including, but not limited to, new immigrants, people for whom English is a second language and illiterate adults) during Fiscal Year 2018, and any plans you have made to meet the needs of these audiences during Fiscal Year 2019. If you regularly broadcast in a language other than English, please note the language broadcast.

WBOI has released seven podcast series that have been downloaded over 22,000 times.

These podcasts include:

• "WBOI Artcentric", a digest of local arts and culture news and interviews;
• "The I In Immigrant", a series featuring conversations with local immigrants about their experiences moving and adjusting to life in the United States; and
• "WBOI Presents", a weekly show that features news digests, discussions, lectures, and storytellers from around Northeast Indiana.

WBOI also broadcasts Gospel Flight every Sunday morning to cater to African American listeners and Connexxion Latina, a Hispanic-language program featuring talk and music that airs Sunday evenings.

In 2022, WBOI aired nine 30-second vignettes that touted the
accomplishments of local African Americans during Black History Month.

5. Please briefly assess the impact that your CPB funding has on your ability to serve your community. What can you do with your grant that you wouldn't be able to do if you didn't receive it?

WBOI 89.1 NIPR appreciates the financial support provided by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB funding enables us to remain on the air and pay our staff to provide listeners the news and cultural programming they need to help them navigate the world and our local community.