Professional Documents
Culture Documents
For over 50 years, 88.5FM WFCR, and now New England Public Radio, have been inextricably connected with the University of Massachusetts and the Five College consortium. This mutually beneficial partnership has been at the heart of WFCRs success and is a vital component of the stations goal of creating a more informed publicone challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. This remains at the core of New England Public Radios work throughout western New England. The Annual Report to UMass for 2012 serves to share our accomplishments for the year, and look ahead to the exciting partnerships between the University and the Five College community and the New England Public Radio Foundation in the year ahead. For the NEPR Foundation, whose mission is to provide support and advice to the station, 2012 was an important year. Its membership changed in an orderly way: Paul Lambert, VP of Guest Experience and Programming at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, became President of the Board as Marc Berman stepped down after four years of service at the post; six directors finished their terms (Bob Pura, Bob Kirkwood, Jim Leheny, Marc Berman, Michael Miller and Steve Mitus); two new members joined (Rosie Caine and Jenny Kallick); and in January 2013 Carey Baker, Steve Wittenberg, Claudia Perles and Ellen Freyman also joined as Directors.
In recognition of the combined gift of $391,000 from the Five Colleges for the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign, and combined overall capital contributions since 1993 of over $1,000,000, New England Public Radio announced in 2012 that its studios in Hampshire House on the UMass Amherst campus would be named The Five Colleges Studios at UMass Amherst. The New England Public Radio Foundation's 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign for WFCR has raised over $5 million since it began 18 months ago. That fundraising momentum puts the station on course for the construction of its new facility in downtown Springfield, the centerpiece of the comprehensive campaign. Of the $5.5 million raised to date, $4.1 million has been designated for facilities, leaving just $1.3 million to be raised to fully fund the Springfield building project. Fundraising efforts are ongoing, and the public phase of the campaign will begin in earnest in 2013. Upon completion of the building fund, the campaign will focus on raising money for local programming initiatives on WFCR and all-news WNNZ, a facilities endowment, and an endowment for classical and jazz programming. Campaign committees, which include several NEPR Foundation Board members, have been
established in Hampshire, Hampden, Berkshire and Franklin counties and will be formed in Connecticut to help secure gifts to the campaign.
Tom and Jazz Safari host Kari Njiiri were MCs at the Newport and Tanglewood Jazz Festivals and along with John and Walter appeared in classrooms across the Five Colleges and UMass as guest lecturers and MCs at various music events. NEPR officially appointed Jill Kaufman host of Morning Edition and Susan Kaplan host of All Things Considered, and reporter Karen Brown won a prestigious Knight Fellowship in Science Journalism at MIT which has kept her in Cambridge for much of the year. The newsroom also hired two former interns as reporters, Leana First-Arai and Henry Epp, a former Hampshire College intern.
Events
NEPR continued its very successful partnership with Amherst Cinema and the UMass Fine Arts Center, The Jazz a la Mode Film Series. Hosted by Jazz a la Modes Tom Reney, the series brings great jazz films to audiences at Amherst Cinema, Community Contributions and now highlights jazz ensembles from the Five Colleges before each showing. Groups from In 2012, 13,004 individual donors made Smith College and UMass Amherst performed contributions totaling $1,650,323; and business underwriting revenues increased from $1.2 million in 2012. And despite the gale force winds and to $1.3 million and added 79 new businesses. On-air hurricane warnings, NEPR proudly hosted its major donors, volunteers and underwriters at fundraising exceeded the previous year with only its annual Appreciation Event with Hampshire 29 days of on-air fund-raising, fewer than ever before in the stations history. NEPR also launched Shakespeare Company at The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies. its Sustaining Partner program in 2012 with great NEPR was also proud to be a part of the Western success. This new model of fundraising where Massachusetts U.S. Senate Debate Consortium, donors give monthly on a continuing basis will which brought Massachusetts Candidates for help to mitigate the peaks and valleys in revenue U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown to caused by relying on semi-annual fund drives. Springfield in October. The Sustainer program offers more efficiency and stability, and shorter pledge drives because we Interns expect more donors and more revenue as a result. The NEPR Foundation supports and continues to New Station Acquisitions encourage the station to build on its internship program. The program, conducted in conjunction The NEPR Foundation acquired another new with the Five Colleges, gives students from frequency in the Berkshires - this time in Great UMass and the four colleges the opportunity to Barrington. 88.9 FM WNNU will serve the gain firsthand experience in the world of public southern half of Berkshire County as part of the all-news WNNZ network which currently includes broadcasting. In 2012, NEPR offered 9 paid internships to students5 of whom were from AM 640 in Hampden County and 91.7 FM in Franklin County. In 2011, the Foundation acquired UMass Amherst. the rights to 98.9 FM in Adams which will be put on the air once funds have been raised as part of the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign for WFCR.
On-Air
There were several on-air highlights on WFCR and all-news WNNZ in 2012. Classically speaking: the station continued its tradition of live broadcasts from Tanglewood; operas from the Met and other great American opera houses; and Springfield Symphony concerts. Jazz a la Mode host Tom Reney and Music Director John Montanari have continued their popular blogs at nepr.net,
LOOKING AHEAD
In the fall of 2012, New England Public Radio FROM FROM STREET WFCR COLLEGE THE THE LEVEL ENCORES CONNECTION ARCHIVES ARCHIVES SOUNDS enthusiastically undertook a project that it had been looking forward to for years. With the goal WFCR ENCoRES of providing more content for our communities FROM STREET WFCR THE LEVEL and accessing the rich and varied resources our COLLEGEArchived by date, WFCR Encores allows musicENCORES CONNECTION ARCHIVES SOUNDS region holds from the Five Colleges and from lovers to listen to our nationally-recognized hosts Williamstown to Worcester - AudoFiles New meticulously crafted playlists any time they like. England Public Radios online-only content source WFCR Encores also includes archived selections was born. from our weekly Commentaries feature (including
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live concerts, and historical broadcast moments such as Nixons announcement of withdrawal of STREET COLLEGE LEVEL troopsWFCR Vietnam, all from WFCRs extensive from ENCORES CONNECTION SOUNDS and recently digitized audio archive.
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readings, discussions, and live music. The College Connection events from the at the click of a mouse.
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Noam Chomsky, and Robert Frost, music concerts, and selections from live
throughout western
AudioFiles consists of four distinct content areas that tap different resources including WFCRs 50 year-old archive, and lectures and happenings across the five college campuses, to give the community access to new ideas, historical moments and a bit of everything in between. Visitors to the site can listen to a growing number of lectures from the Five Colleges, programs from institutions like the Springfield Public Forum which has never before in its 75-year history recorded its offerings, and The World Affairs Council. See below for information on each of AudioFiles distinct categories.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
several Five College commentators), highlights from WFCRs Spanish-language program, Tertulia, and complete Morning Edition Extra segments, along with the complete catalog of WFCRs Field Notes. AudioFiles depends heavily on the stations interns. While the project got underway in the fall of 2012, it employed just two interns, one from UMass Amherst, and one recent graduate from Hampshire College. Each spent many hours working with the projects director and station webmaster, Peter Chilton, collecting audio and producing and posting content to the site. In January, AudioFiles signed on a total of six interns from UMass Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and Hampshire Colleges. The interns are responsible for collecting audio from their campuses and the greater community in addition to producing their own content based on a series of interview prompts. Each is provided a production kit and works primarily his or her own campus, with several training sessions and group meetings throughout the semester. New England Public Radio will formally launch for AudioFiles in NEW but we invite you toRADIO look 2013, ENGLAND PUBLIC take a at nepr.net/audiofiles.
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BILL COSBYLive
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On March 2, 2013, Bill Cosby took to the stage at Springfield Symphony Hall for a benefit performance in support of the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign for WFCR. We are thrilled that Dr. Cosby, an avid listener to the station, donated his time for this special evening and proud to have had the support of the University of Massachusetts Amherst as one of the events presenting sponsors. FRom ThE ARChIvES The event raised $140,000 in support of the capital for NEW ENGLAND PUBLIC RADIO for NEW ENGLAND PUBLIC RADIO From The Archives showcases audio from a diverse campaign. group of speakers, including Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, and Angela Davis, music selections from
The years ahead provide a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity for New England Public Radio as the network and the university open to new voices, technologies and markets. under the strong, thoughtful leadership of CEo and general manager martin miller and his remarkable, dedicated staff, NEPR is positioned for a critically
important step forward to claim an increasingly vital role in regional news, programming and outreach. While I have a great deal to learn in my new role, I am honored to be associated with these institutions, ideas and individuals.
In conclusion, the NEPR Foundation can report to the University (and Five College consortium) another successful year for the station. The New England Public Radio Foundation, Inc. March 13, 2013