2023 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Being on-air is pure magic. Invisible beams send voices, music, and sound across the airwaves and into people’s homes. But is what we’re sending out there compelling? Are listeners stopped in their tracks experiencing the classic driveway moment? When’s the last time you evaluated the overall sound of the station? From on-air voices to the interstitials between programs, it’s all telling a story.

In this workshop, you’ll learn everything you need to know to captivate audiences with on-air sound that keeps them coming back for more. Learn vocal techniques, equipment tips, how to harness the music and voices of your community, and how to go from being a good host to becoming a beloved host. You’ll leave this comprehensive workshop fired up and armed with new tools to elevate your station’s on-air sound and tell a great story.

Funding the mission – every station’s critical need and often the greatest challenge. But never fear! In this session, top industry leaders share the do’s and don’ts of fundraising from A to Z; how to strategically manage fundraising for sustainability, and how collaboration and partnership can take your fundraising to the next level.

This session will include a supportive revenue stream assessment where you’ll share and receive advice and inspiration. Presenters will reach out to your station beforehand to customize the intensive to the group’s needs.

Someone once said, “You can’t live with the FCC – and you can’t live without them.” The FCC plays a vital legal role in the life (and potential success) of every noncommercial radio station. Whether you are a public radio newcomer, or simply looking for a concise refresher course, this is the intensive for you!

Join Veteran Washington DC attorney Ernie Sanchez in this lively and concise overview of how to successfully live and prosper with the help of the FCC. Bring your legal questions and your problems. Parts of the presentation will be in lecture form, but there will be plenty of time for Q&A. You will leave this session challenged, stimulated, and with lots of information and answers.

Acclaimed poet Phil Kaye performs some of his award-winning work and discusses how to connect with our audience in a way that feels authentic, natural, and meaningful.

Project VOICE is responsible for bringing spoken word poetry into hundreds of classrooms around the world. Our time-tested teaching techniques creatively approach spoken word poetry as a tool for literacy, empowerment, engagement, education, and community-building that can be used in classrooms across content areas. If your faculty is interested in learning how this art form can be incorporated into your classrooms and community, now you can have the opportunity to learn straight from the experts.

A panel of attorneys tackle the issues community radio stations face. An excellent opportunity to ask all your burning questions related to the FCC and other legal topics and get the answers you need.

Small community and public radio stations serve communities with great needs but don’t have access to the same resources as large station peers. In this presentation and panel discussion, get more insight into the unique trends and challenges experienced by small stations, learn about potential opportunities for increased growth and local impact, and hear from your community radio peers (Ashley Krest and Tami Graham) about their direct experience with Impact for All, a grant-funded initiative for small stations that provides customized station insight and actionable plans for future growth. Led by Steve Holmes of Public Media Company.

Language is powerful. ​​Project VOICE is responsible for bringing spoken word poetry into hundreds of classrooms around the world. Their time-tested teaching techniques creatively approach spoken word poetry as a tool for literacy, empowerment, engagement, education, and community-building that can be used across content areas. Space will be limited to 25 participants. This workshop is led by Keynote Speaker, Phil Kaye.

Competition for talented staff is fierce. How can community radio leaders find, nurture, and most importantly, retain talent? Learn how Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KUVO, and KDUR have done just that through collaboration, structure, and support. Led by Maeve Conran (RMCR) and panelists Nikki Swarn (KUVO), Bryant Liggett (KDUR)

In this Lunch Plenary, NFCB CEO, Sally Kane will share insights about the state of community radio. She will be joined by the Annual Membership Meeting, which will include board nominations, review of NFCB’s work and growth, and more.

What does community radio look like in 30 years? Who will lead your organization? How will we recruit, hire and retain the best people we can to steward the resources we today have worked so hard for? And how can we who care, but aren’t sure how or where to start, set up these outlets we love for a brighter future? In this less-slides-more-ideas experience, we’ll solve community media’s biggest dilemmas. Issues as rich as succession to diversity have probably kept you up at night. Convene with others like you. Using our shared experience, curiosity and a lot of Post-Its in this design thinking-inspired huddle, we will vision who leads, what stations will do to become more reflective of their community, more accessible, and more equitable. (Just kidding about slides… you’ll also get tools and downloads to take home with you).

Everyone’s talking about digital these days. If your station isn’t monetizing digital, you’re leaving money on the table. Learn how to capture those digital dollars from stations that have made it happen. Michael Fisher (AirKast) and Nikki Swarn (KUVO, The Drop) talk about how digital monetization had significant impacts on the bottom line.

Tired of unproductive meetings and just a few people deciding everything? This interactive session explores an approach to effective egalitarian governance known as sociocracy or Dynamic Governance. You’ll leave this session with a better understanding of decision-making by consent, dealing with objections and disagreements, selecting people to leadership roles, organizational structure in management and engagement, creating feedback-rich environments, and equalizing whose voices are heard. Led by Russ White and Jerry Koch-Gonzalez of Sociocracy for All.

Community radio is a critical resource for preserving, uplifting, and enhancing the well-being of local communities. At the same time, community radio is impacted by shrinking resources, evolving technology, and changing listening trends. The Community Counts Initiative (CCI) and The Center for Community Media at Newmark J-School explore sustainable paths toward success through the power of cohort learning. Panelists include Mikhael Simmonds (Center for Community Media), Becky Meier (KCAW), K.P. Whaley (Asheville FM), and Matthew Brown (WTIP). The panel will be led by Lackisha Freeman (WNCU).

Whether you’re a college station at a university, or a radio station tied to a tribal government or other non-profit organization, these media outlets generally have a particular mission to fulfill with a lot of stakeholders. Sometimes priorities clash! Find out how some of our stations are navigating the parent org in terms of funding and free speech, and realizing the community radio goals of access, training, and creative free-form radio. Panelists include Nathan Moore (WTJU), Samantha Honani (KUYI), Jennifer Kiser (KCSB), and moderated by Lackisha Freeman (WNCU).

Not all fundraising happens on the air. There are lots of ways listeners can support their favorite community radio station in new and exciting ways. Learn how to expand listener support with off-air fundraising through crowdfunding and vehicle and land donations. The panel includes Alyssa Tanner (KWMR), Amanda Eichstaedt (KWMR), Beth Carter (CARS) and Bob Breck (CARS).

Today, there are millions of published podcasts, millions of topics discussed, and a record-high 89 million weekly podcast listeners in the U.S. As the podcast audience grows, it is crucial to understand the different topics and genres that power the medium. Join Gabriel Soto from Edison Research, the leading research company in podcasting, as he demonstrates data on how listeners to various podcast genres differ. You’ll walk away from this session understanding not only the most popular genres in podcasting, but how news listeners differ from comedy listeners and other genres. Who are they, how do they listen, and what makes each genre special? Led by Gabriel Soto, Edison Research.

Digital strategy – does your station have one? There’s much more to digital than posting on Tik Tok or blogging. In this panel discussion, learn all about digital strategies – why every community radio station should have one, the do’s and don’ts, how to be creative with the resources you have, and more. Led by Tran Vu (NFCB Board) and featuring panelists Ernesto Aguilar (KQED), and Tea Wimer (WMMT).

Keynote Speaker Dr. Dwinita Mosby Tyler shares the 6 most common conundrums we share in advancing DEI in our work. She’ll focus on the conundrums, what causes them, and how to solve them. Dr. Mosby Tyler will share how attendees can navigate complexities while honoring the richness of their organizational and community cultures.

Dr. Mosby Tyler and The Equity Project have worked with various clients within the media and radio industry, including Colorado Public Radio, 9news, 5280 Magazine, Comcast, and Dish Network. She was a featured speaker at the 2022 Super Regional National Conference. We are honored to bring Dr. Mosby Tyler to NFBC’s conference.

A panel of attorneys tackle the issues community radio stations face. An excellent opportunity to ask all your burning questions about underwriting and underwriting related challenges and get the answers you need.

“While the need for integrated fundraising has become as essential as it has ever been, we must remind ourselves that the member journey is one without a port. This session examines the growth funnel and helps you to identify internal marketing tools, their application while revisiting the fundamentals of engagement, integrated, and evergreen campaigns. Depart armed with real world examples and practical strategies. (First 40 participants receive a fundraising resource kit) Immersive, Interactive and based on the Insider’s Guide to Fundraising by Jen Newmeyer.”. Led by JC Polk (NFCB Board Member, TRAC Media, Public Media for All).

Music programming and archives have transformed and shifted as listener’s listening habits have changed. Using the right tools can help you to meet music lovers where they are online and on the air. John and Matt Schaefer of Radio Rethink and Eva Papp from Spinitron share insights into developing  trends, new technology, and exciting  tools to grow listener engagement.

People are at the center of what stations do. Centering community voices can deepen relationships and trust between institutions and the communities they aim to serve. Learn about some highly successful engagement initiatives that foster community wellness and restorative justice on the airwaves. Panelists Ryan Conarro (Inside Wire: Colorado Prison Radio), Herbert Alexander (Community Producer, Colorado Prison Radio), and Tea Wimer (WMMT Calls From Home) talk about cultivating social connection and immediacy between incarcerated people and the world beyond prison walls and how their stations create the potential for personal empowerment and systemic transformation. Ida Hakkila and Sue Matters share how prioritizing mental wellness and recovery and providing a safe space for healing has impacted their stations and communities.

A Roundtable Conversation with Public Media For All.

Public Media For All (PMFA) works with public media organizations seeking to create a media system that lives up to the promise of diversity and equity written in the Public Media Act of 1967. As leaders seek to diversify their teams, it’s important to look inward and recognize that cultural change comes first. In this session, we will talk about how to create an organizational culture that is inclusive enough to sustain the diversity we seek.

What’s an open-source tool, and how can it make your life easier? How does it compare to other technologies? What other types of tools are out there for community radio? Explore the world of open source and how stations can expand capacity with Broadcast Tool & Die’s David Klann.

Join NFCB’s CEO Sally Kane for a session chock full of tips, anecdotes, strategies, and tactics for tapping large gifts beyond pledge drive donations. You’ll come away with clarity of what distinguishes annual giving from capital campaigns, how to seed a planned giving effort, and what works when it comes to communicating with and cultivating donors. There will be lots of time for questions and conversations. General Managers are encouraged to attend.

The KGUA Writers program is a community-driven writing initiative that has been in operation for over three years. The program celebrates diversity while uniting us in our similarities through the power of writing. Participating writers use their own dialect, language, and cultural speak in the program, creating a unique and authentic representation of diverse voices and experiences. Gain valuable insights into the benefits of writing programs like KGUA Writers in building community, the challenges and benefits of running writing initiatives in their own communities, and how to overcome these challenges. Led by Mark Gross (Writer and Producer).

America is a country politically divided. Through StoryCorps’ One Small Step initiative, community radio stations have attempted to bridge the political divide and bring people with different views together in conversation to learn and remember the human. Stations will share what they learned through the project, how they engaged listeners, and the stories they’ve shared. Panelists include Tami Graham (KSUT), Matthew Brown (WTIP), and Adam Burke (Independent Producer).

Your station wants to make a commitment to being more equitable. What does equity and fair practice look like? AIR has established policies around compensation, fair practices, and other standard policies and they’ve leveraged those policies to attract and deepen donor support. Learn how they did it and come away with fresh ideas of how to do something similar at your station.

Established by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), has stewarded the federal government’s investment in public radio and television. NFCB’s CEO Sally Kane will lead this conversation with CPB’s Kathy Merritt, Senior Vice President for Radio, Journalism, and CSG Services and Jacquie Gales Webb,Vice President, Radio staff to give an overview of the history of CPB, the flow of the funding, and insights into various field initiatives that CPB supports. You’ll walk away from this session with a deeper understanding of CPB’s role in the public media industry.

Science may not be your beat, but it’s relevant everywhere. News coverage of climate disasters, COVID, and environmental contamination is stronger when science is included. And even stories you might not expect—about business, education, crime, and politics—can be made more salient with some added scientific expertise and context. But science can be intimidating, especially for journalists on other beats. This session will cover how the scientific process works and why that matters for journalists and content producers; how to scan a scientific paper for information relevant to your story; common pitfalls to avoid when reporting on science; and how to find, understand, and work more effectively with scientist sources.

Native Braids and Native Lens are two different projects that share a common goal – to engage the Native community and elevate Native voices through public media. In this session, learn how Adam Burke (Independent Producer) developed and produced Native Braids, an audio project, in collaboration with KSUT’s Tribal Media Center. The series features produced vignettes, capturing intimate conversations between Native American youth and elders. Additionally, Native Lens, a film project, produced in collaboration by Rocky Mountain PBS and KSUT Tribal Radio, shares firsthand narratives to increase the visibility of tribal communities and amplify Native voices. Hear about successes and challenges facing each project to combat invisibility and stereotypes and authentically build long-term relationships where Native communities feel seen and heard. This panel discussion will share audio, video, and perspectives from both projects. Panelists include Darrah Blackwater, Tami Graham, Adam Burke, and Alex Forsett. (Livestream)

Featuring remarks from Sally Kane, Timo Russo, and Nikki Swarn