Ohio’s public radio stations have joined forces to launch The Ohio Newsroom, Buckeye’s largest daily statewide digital radio and news service.
Ideastream Public Media, which serves northeast Ohio and operates the Ohio Public Radio and Television News Bureau for Ohio’s public broadcasters, will lead the effort.
The Ohio Newsroom Project was born out of a $70,000 grant from the George Gund Foundation in 2019 and launched Thursday with a two-year, $375,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“The overarching goal of the Ohio Newsroom is to provide a forum for all Ohioans to hear the stories that affect and/or move them, whether they are down the street or across the state, especially from fellow citizens who have traditionally been overlooked or too often ignored,” said Richard Eiswerth, president and CEO of Cincinnati Public Radio, in the announcement. of Thursday.
Wendy Turner, first general manager of Ideastream of Ohio Public Media Services and former general manager of Kent State University’s WKSU-FM, will oversee the Ohio Newsroom project in plus managing the Ohio Channel and the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau on behalf of all public radio and television stations in Ohio.
Its first task is to hire a newsroom editor in consultation with partner stations. The Ohio Newsroom will also hire reporters and a development staff member to seek subscription.
The Ohio Newsroom will provide statewide radio and digital news daily. Future Ohio Newsroom reporting can be found on the Ohio Newsroom website, wvxu.org, and all Ohio Newsroom partner websites .
In addition to Cincinnati Public Radio and Ideastream, founding member stations are WOSU Public Media (Columbus); WYSO (Yellow Springs); WGTE (Toledo); WCSU (Wilberforce); and WYSU (Youngstown).
Soon, four independent reporters will be recording stories from various parts of the state, Eiswerth said.
“The sky’s the limit, but we don’t want to promise too much. We have to make sure we have the funding to make it sustainable,” Eiswerth said.
John Kiesewetter’s reporting is independent. Cincinnati Public Radio only edits its content for style and grammar.
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Job seekers can find information about the role of editor and apply online at https://www.ideastream.org/about/careers. Additional positions will be added to the Ohio Newsroom as it is implemented.
Turner said, “Securing The Ohio Newsroom’s first editor, and later, more reporters, will mean deeper stories, expanded digital content, and even better statewide coordination on breaking news. news.” She added, “Ohio’s public media has a long history of working together. We look forward to continuing this tradition of successfully serving Ohioans through The Ohio Newsroom.
Examples of past collaborative projects (Ohio Public Radio) include “Learning Curve” and “Justice Matters”. The partners are also working on a new collaborative editorial project to launch this spring – the first content initiative to be published under The Ohio Newsroom.
Plans for the Ohio Newsroom originally began as a concept for developing a “statewide news collaboration” in July 2019 with a $70,000 grant from the George Gund Foundation. to conduct consumer research. In October 2020, Ideastream Public Media, Cincinnati Public Radio, and WOSU Public Media announced that they had received a $56,500 grant from CPB to develop a business plan and sustainability model for the collaboration. Then, as plans further consolidated among public radio stations in Ohio, CPB awarded the project $375,000 in October 2021 to begin implementing the collaboration.
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