General Manager's Newsletter | April 2018

How would public radio sound without the public? Imagine a broadcast service with no listeners and no supporters. Wyoming Public Radio would be like the tree that falls in the forest, with no one to witness the event or reflect on its meaning. Imagine all the stories that happen daily that may never reach our ears.

As a listener, you witness public radio and you validate the work our staff generates every day. We all hear the same NPR news reports and human interest stories and we share this collective experience. Programs like Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! are beloved by millions of listeners who find a few moments of comedy that they can laugh over with millions of others. Continue reading.

Maggie Mullen and the Mountain West, Wyoming Public Radio is a member of the Mountain West News Bureau, a six-station collaborative to highlight life in the Rocky Mountains. Reporter Maggie Mullen joined collaborators at Boise State Public Radio for a retreat featuring a workshop with Robert Smith of NPR's Planet Money.

Bob Beck Gives Legislative Debriefing in Jackson, Wyoming Public Radio News Director Bob Beck presented to the Wednesday Lunch Group at Teton Pines on March 21st. Beck discussed the recent Wyoming legislative session, the upcoming gubernatorial election, and journalism in the age of fake news. 

StoryCorps Plans Visit to Jackson, Oral history recordings will be available in Jackson this summer thanks to a visit from the StoryCorps Mobile Tour. Last month, members of the Wyoming Public Media team met with the Mobile Tour Director Danielle Andersen in Jackson to discuss the logistics of the Airstream recording booth's stay in Wyoming.

Wyoming Sounds Tunes Featured on NPR's Heavy Rotation, Wyoming Sounds Host Micah Schweizer contributed to this monthly list from NPR with the song "Underwater" by Elizabeth and the Catapult. Schweizer says the band's fourth album are hopeful and mature songs that aren't afraid to admit weakness and mistakes.

Wyoming Stories Shared by Mountain West, Wyoming Public Radio Reporter Maggie Mullen's stories on affordable housing in Guernsey and anti-gun control reform teens in the west were broadcast to five stations in the Rocky Mountain region as part of The Mountain West News Bureau collaborative.  

The Allegheny Front Recommends HumaNature, Western Pennsylvania based program The Allegheny Front featured HumaNature in its list of "Seven Podcasts About The Environment You Should Be Listening To Now", citing HumaNature as "encouraging reflection on our own place in the natural world". See the full list here.

General Manager Speaks on Protect My Public Media, Federal funding for public broadcasting is an ongoing issue. Duluth Public Radio's Maija Jenson spoke with Wyoming Public Media's General Manager Christina Kuzmych about the Protect My Public Media Campaign and our own I Love Wyoming Public Radio initiative.

Wyoming Opioid Crisis Report Receives National Attention, Wyoming Public Radio's Melodie Edwards' report on the threat of a growing opioid epidemic in rural states aired nationally on March 1st on Here & Now. The growing use of opioids prompted a summit at the White House early last month.