Schedule at a glance – details below

Event keynotes are open to the public, but exclusive sessions will be held for NFCB member stations. Find all member event registration links in the Solution Center. (login required)

	Content	Revenue	Engagement	Org. Capacity
July 7	Open Source/RTC 11 ET / 8 PT			KEYNOTE Wise Warriorship: How to Advance DEIJ In A Complex World 1 ET / 10 PT Engaged and Equitable Leadership 3 ET / 12 PT
July 8		Sustainer Programs and Other Pledge Drive Alternatives 4 ET / 1 PT
July 9	Community Radio Program Management 2 ET / 11 PT	Monthly Giving. Long Term Support Means Long Term Work 4 ET / 1 PT
July 12	One Mic, Many Voices 4 ET / 1 PT			Music Reporting: What You Need to Know 2 ET / 11 PT
July 13			KEYNOTE Navigating the Sea Of Mis/Disinformation for Media Makers: What the COVID-19 Vaccine Situation Can Teach Us 4 ET / 1 PT
July 14	Launching a Community News Effort 3 ET / 12 PT
July 15	Audio Narratives Demystified 1 ET / 10 PT			KEYNOTE When Every Day is a Mental Health Day 4 ET / 1 PT
July 16	Painting Stories with Sound 10 ET / 7 PT	Crowdfunding and Community Radio 4 ET / 1 PT
July 19				Ask the Attorneys 3 ET / 12 PT
July 20			The Filing Window for FM and Low Power FM 2 ET / 11 PT
July 21			KEYNOTE Dave Isay 4 ET / 1 PT

Session I: Wise Warriorship: How to Advance DEIJ in a Complex World

July 7 at 1 ET
What is your role in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice? And can you keep it up? In this 90-minute talk, author and Brevity & Wit founder Minal Bopaiah discusses the importance of wisdom for anyone committed to this work. Discover how to be a nonpartisan warrior for DEIJ in public media, the benefits of a warrior lifestyle, and the three qualities you need to cultivate to have the energy to pursue this work. Drawing on her heritage, personal sheroes, and social science, Minal helps individuals and organizations identify the unique contribution they have to make to creating a more equitable, inclusive, and just world.

Session II: Navigating the Sea Of Mis/Disinformation for Media Makers:  What the COVID-19 Vaccine Situation Can Teach Us

July 13 at 4 ET
Partisan political battles are still raging nationwide. COVID-19 conspiracy theories, false information about vaccinations, and weaponized social media are deepening divisions and creating confusion in cities and towns everywhere. What are the foundations of such beliefs, and how can media help address the underlying issues?

Session III: When Every Day is a Mental Health Day

July 15 at 4 ET
As the boundaries between home and career, the personal and professional dissipate, leaders have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to create a safe space for people to bring their whole selves to the work they do. Karen Hawkins, co-editor-in-chief of the Chicago Reader, will offer suggestions for leading with compassion, how to make boundary-setting safe, and being OK with not being OK. 

Session IV: Dave Isay and One Small Step

July 21 at 4 ET

Dave Isay, founder and president of StoryCorps, is a public media icon. His latest initiative, One Small Step is aimed at tackling divides in our nation. Learn how StoryCorps is helping communities to counteract intensifying political divides and enabling those who disagree to listen to each other with respect. Dave Isay will be introduced by President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Patricia de Stacy Harrison.

Member Exclusive Events

Engaged and Equitable Leadership (90 min)

Wednesday, July 7 | NFCB members will continue to build on the conversations in July 7’s keynote as you spend exclusive time learning with Minal Bopaiah. Participants will learn about the six characteristics of inclusive leaders. We’ll dive deep on cultural intelligence in communication styles and a framework for inclusive decision-making.

Sustainer Programs and Other Pledge Drive Alternatives

Thursday, July 8 | The days of one-time-donation pledge drives are long behind us as more stations adopt monthly giving programs. But how should a station incorporate a monthly giving program into the traditional pledge drive? WFMU General Manager Ken Freedman discusses this question, and also provides examples of creative twists on traditional pledge drive giving.

Open Source and WebRTC: The Future of Global Communications?

Wednesday, July 7 |When Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla team up, you might think, “Nothing good is going to come of this.” But you might just possibly be wrong in your thinking. An Open Source project is typically the last thing these tech behemoths would ever want to be involved in…let alone with their fiercest rivals. WebRTC is a pretty fascinating example of how good things can be born of necessity and how they can foster cooperation on multiple levels. We’ll discuss the basics of WebRTC and the multitude of applications that are already using it to change the way the world communicates.  This is especially important in light of the rapid evaporation of our “traditional” telco infrastructure. We’ll also cover broadcast-specific applications, best practices and the future of live content creation.
PUBLIC EVENT (SPONSORED) | Wednesday, July 7, 11 a.m. ET | Register here

Community Radio Program Management

Friday, July 9 | Every station with volunteers may face programming dilemmas. Schedule changes happen. You may experience delicate situations such as conflicts of interest in programming or perceptions of volunteers “owning” timeslots. Maybe you dream of alternate internet channels, but are unsure what that entails. Join one of community radio’s most respected voices, WFMU’s Ken Freedman, for a session on effective and thoughtful program directing.

Monthly Giving. Long Term Support Means Long Term Work

Friday, July 9 | We will discuss how to start, or jumpstart, a monthly giving campaign. Why and how to get it going, to the much more important, how to maintain your campaign over time. This session will include lessons learned and common issues along with time for discussion to share what works for your organization.

Music Reporting: What You Need to Know

Monday, July 12 | Few areas of regulation are as treacherous for community radio stations as music rights and stations’ obligations to report their streaming. In this lively yet accessible conversation, Spinitron’s Eva Papp, one of community radio’s best experts on the subject, will help you decipher all you need to know to ensure your station is meeting all its obligations.

One Mic, Many Voices

Monday, July 12 | Lack of diversity in gender, identity, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic range have long been part of media. Even with the advent of independent community radio, most voices are white, male, and middle class. How can women and non-binary folks intentionally diversify the airwaves? The WRIR collective One Mic, Many Voices started to bring diverse voices to community radio through intentional recruitment, training, and facilitation of production. Learn more in this session about their local engagement efforts.

Launching a Community News Effort: Doing a Lot with a Little

Wednesday, July 14 | Three different journalists from three different stations in three different time zones share ideas and resources for stations ready to invest in starting up a news effort. We’ll share a range of approaches to producing local news, including writing headlines, sourcing free audio segments, engaging via social media, involving students, covering social movements, and highlighting marginalized voices.

Audio Narratives Demystified

Thursday, July 15 | Radio and podcasts have seen audience gains through longform presentation styles. This session, get some context as well as a breakdown of the most popular audio narrative formats. In addition, you will receive a basic technical understanding of how to record, edit, and distribute an audio narrative production. This is a great session for stations and producers looking to expand their arsenal of audio approaches, and how to create them.

Painting Stories with Sound

Friday, July 16 | In this “best practice” workshop, Nick Dunkerley of Hindenburg Systems will share two decades of practical experience in recording and producing material for your audio stories. Whether you are producing a radio drama, a news story or a podcast, the principles remain the same: you are painting images with sound. How do you record the best-sounding interview? How do you create an intimate space with your interviewee to make them comfortable opening up to you? How to capture audio images in the field? How do you begin using your digital audio editor as a palette? Painting layer upon layer of audio color will make you story come to life, but only if you have the audio material you need to work with.

Crowdfunding and Community Radio

Friday, July 16 | Crowdfunding – raising small amounts of money from a large group of people to reach a goal – has long been a go-to for entrepreneurs, influencers and inventors. KWMR has utilized crowdfunding as a tool during on-air fundraising to great success. In two pledge drives, the station gained about 250 first-time donors. Join us for a quick low down on how KWMR used crowdfunding successfully and learn other ways it can be used to support your station.

Ask the Attorneys

Monday, July 19 | This legal session takes on the ins and outs of community radio – from underwriting, to indecency, to other matters that stations face. Our panel of lawyers will offer an overview of the basics, a look at complicated questions, field real-life case studies. This session features an extended question-and-answer period to get your puzzles solved.

The FCC’s Upcoming Filing Window for Noncommercial FM and Low Power FM Frequencies

Tuesday, July 20 | The FCC will accept applications for full-power noncommercial radio stations across the nation this year. Such a filing window is expected to be followed by the intake of license applications for new low-power FM (LPFM) stations, which last happened in 2013. What’s involved in getting an FCC license? What do you need to be aware of legally to be prepared? How can you get organized now for this rare opportunity? Join two of the nation’s top attorneys for an update on these issues and to answer your questions.
PUBLIC SESSION Tuesday, July 20, at 2 ET | Register here

Find all registration links in the Solution Center. (login required)

Throughout the month of July, NFCB will host events as part of Wish You Were Here. The virtual gathering will feature keynotes available at no cost to anyone who is interested in attending. NFCB will also host members-only breakout sessions on particular topics of interest.

NFCB’s 2021 program will be focused on four areas:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion – building on NFCB’s legacy of commitment to accountability;
• Mis/Disinformation – empowering stations and media organizers to help their audiences identify falsehoods that poison community cohesion;
• Polarization – equipping stations to take on divides in their communities; and
• Wellness and Mental Health – supporting you in making the well-being of staff and volunteers a priority.

2019 Conference

The 2019 Community Media Conference ended June 20, 2019. NFCB wishes to thank the hundreds of attendees who came from across the United States to join colleagues in San Diego. In addition, NFCB wishes to thank Community Media Conference sponsors and exhibitors.

Visit the #NFCB19 hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for conference highlights.

A 2019 Conference Video