WAMU Leads 2-Year Collaboration with Public Media Outlets

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, October 25, 2018

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting awards WAMU-FM (88.5), Washington, DC's NPR station, $750,000 to fund "1A Across America," a two-year collaborative effort to bring more local viewpoints to 1A's national audiences. Produced by WAMU, 1A is a daily weekday show reaching listeners nationwide on 335 NPR affiliates. With support from CPB, 1A's production team will work with six public media stations across the country to cover underreported local issues and points of view through on-air discussions, interviews, field reporting and live events.

"CPB has a long-term commitment to supporting diversity in public media - including geographic diversity and points of view," said CPB Senior VP/Journalism and Radio. "With our support, 1A Across America will bring more local views on issues of importance into a national conversation that is informed by local journalism."

Since its launch in January, 2017, 1A, hosted by Joshua Johnson, has grown more than 90 percent in station carriage and expanded its audience to 3.63 million listeners nationwide.

"1A Across America is a valuable opportunity to explore local conversations and tap into original local journalism taking place at our partner stations leading up to the 2020 presidential elections," said WAMU Senior Director of Content and News Andi McDaniel. "This is part of our commitment to programming that truly reflects America."

Participating stations include:

• Houston Public Media News 88.7 serving the Greater Houston region
• KMUW airing across the greater Wichita, Kansas, region
• KUNC-Community Radio for Northern Colorado
• Michigan Radio serves southern Michigan including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint and Grand Rapids
• MPR News heard by 95 percent of Minnesotans
• WBHM broadcast in Birmingham and Fort Payne, AL