Dear Friends,
Today’s letter is, in part, an early Valentine for a very special group of people. While we sincerely appreciate every one of our listeners and supporters, we have a special place in our hearts for these folks – the more than 300 folks who volunteer their time to TPR.
Our volunteers come from all walks of life, and span the age range from high school students to retirees. They do everything from making the significant commitment of time to serve on our Board of Directors to spending an hour or two helping to fold T-shirts. They are critical to our ability to present live events, participate in events with other community organizations, conduct our pledge drives and get pledge premiums out to donors in a timely manner. What brings this wide swath of people together is their passion about TPR and their community, and the enjoyment they find in serving with like-minded individuals.
And while we appreciate them every day of the year, once a year we host a party in their honor. It’s our opportunity to say “Thank You!” and to celebrate their very important role in achieving TPR’s mission. This year, the event will be on Tuesday, February 23.
If you are a TPR volunteer, expect an invitation soon. If you would like to become a TPR volunteer, call Elisa Gonzales at 210-801-3232 or email her at elisa@tpr.org. We would be delighted to have you get more involved.
I also want to share with you some information about another sort of “volunteer” effort, on an organizational level. When I joined TPR just over two years ago, we had good relationships with other public radio stations around the state, but no formal working relationships with them. Shortly after my arrival, the general manager of KUT, in Austin, called me to talk about an idea for a program that would cover the news from a Texas perspective. Soon after that, we convened a meeting that included not only TPR and KUT, but also the stations in Dallas and Houston. In that meeting, we agreed that the four stations would jointly produce the Texas Standard and contribute content to the program free of charge. We also agreed that the program should be made freely available to other public radio stations from around the state. I’m pleased to report that Texas Standard is now carried by almost every public radio station in Texas, several of which have also become content contributors.
One of the great things about this collaboration is that, like our volunteers, everyone involved is passionate about public radio. We are focused on our mission to ensure that our communities are well informed. That passion and focus were recognized by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal funding for public broadcasting, with an invitation to submit a grant proposal that would allow us to expand our collaborative coverage. With the award of that grant, we are now able to hire a statewide coordinating editor to help ensure that we are leveraging assets among the stations to ensure the best possible coverage of issues of common concern, such as elections, the environment, energy, water, and transportation. It has also allowed us to develop and staff a statewide newscast to provide major headlines from around the state twice every weekday. That is planned for a March launch. We are also developing plans to work together to enhance our digital efforts and for coverage of breaking news.
Through what we are now calling the Texas Station Collaborative, we are able to readily provide information and perspectives from all around the state, so that Texans will know what’s happening in their state and what other Texans are thinking in a much broader sense than ever before.
Exciting? We think so. 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for Texas Public Radio. Stay tuned.
Warm regards,
joyce