Skip to main content

With the coronavirus outbreak impacting many cities and towns, community radio is being asked to respond to local needs as never before. How equipped are community radio managers, producers, and other leaders to address the most urgent demands of their audiences?

For decades, those in community media have sought more support to create the best work for your respective communities. People like you have asked to connect with those who understand your particular challenges.

“Learning skills, surviving the crisis” is a free series of remote trainings by the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on communities and making the job of broadcast journalists a lot more difficult at a time when they are needed most. With this series, specially designed for the NFCB, we offer training relevant to weathering this crisis.

Trainings are provided at no cost to community media organizations and all stations are welcome to attend, whether they are NFCB members or not.

“Learning skills, surviving the crisis” sessions are:

June 3, 3-4 pm EST / 12-1 PST: Managing people remotely. Some management and leadership tools and techniques to keep employees and volunteers organized, supported and inspired when we are all working from home. With Emma Carew Grovum

Register free here to attend.

Emma Carew Grovum is a leader who builds bridges for key growth areas in journalism like leadership culture and product development. She solves problems at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and audience.  Emma has built content management and storytelling tools, run newsroom operations, and managed the divide between editorial and tech for organizations like The Daily Beast, The New York Times Opinion, and Foreign Policy magazine. She coaches journalists from newsrooms large and small, across the country on topics such as leadership, membership, and product thinking. Emma has previously held nearly every kind of editorial role possible: researcher, reporter, social media editor, homepage manager, and assistant managing editor.

June 10, 3-4 pm EST / 12-1 PST: Managing cost and revenue in a crisis. Nobody has the perfect formula to keep afloat in these unprecedented times but there are some best practices, resources and news product ideas that might help. With Jim Brady.

Register free here to attend.

Jim Brady is the CEO of Spirited Media, a media consulting firm that operated local news sites Billy Penn in Philadelphia, The Incline in Pittsburgh, and Denverite in Denver prior to selling the businesses in early 2019. Prior to founding Spirited Media, Jim served in many roles as a media executive, including Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, Editor in Chief of Digital First Media, General Manager of TBD, Head of News and Sports for America Online and in various other roles. Jim also served as public editor of ESPN from 2015-18.

June 17, 3-4 pm EST / 12-1 PST: Fighting disinformation in a pandemic. Your audience looks to you for accurate information on a life-or-death subject like the coronavirus. Here’s the type of disinformation you can expect from social media and how to verify it and address it. With First Draft.

Register free here to attend.

Aimee Rinehart is the deputy director of First Draft, where she managed Comprova, the Brazilian election project in 2018. She serves as project lead on First Draft initiatives and builds strategic partnerships with complementary organizations to support and enhance our work around the world. She started working online in 1996 and was a digital originator at The New York Times. She was an editor at the Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels and upon her return to New York, worked in the communications departments at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Overseas Press Club of America and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

June 24, 3-4 pm EST / 12-1 PST: Fundamentals of radio journalism, Writing. Now is the time to brush up on your broadcast writing with this hands-on session led by a veteran public radio producer. With George Bodarky

July 1, 3-5 pm EST (2 hours) / 12-2 PST: Fundamentals of radio journalism, Vocal performance. We review tips and techniques for working on your delivery and practice, practice, practice! With George Bodarky

George Bodarky is the news and public affairs director at WFUV FM, an NPR affiliate station, based on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx and an adjunct faculty at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. George is the current president of Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) and a past president and current board member of the New York State Associated Press Association. George has also taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.  He is widely known for his vocal coaching and journalism training.

The sessions will be conducted on Zoom; please make sure you have a device with Internet connection.

The Center for Community Media (CCM) of CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism builds the capacity of news organizations that provide essential local coverage for populations whose voices and issues are underrepresented in “mainstream” media. CCM serves as an essential hub of information, resources and training aimed at increasing the sustainability of this media sector.

Founded in 1978, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters is positioned as the leading national organization dedicated to supporting and nurturing agency among community radio stations, inviting diverse community voices, stories, culture and connections, as an essential service to a resilient, democratic and healthy society.