New Public Media Collaborative Strengthens Stations
Public media stations in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh are banding together to create the first ever Public Media Workforce Collaborative. The new initiative is being developed to increase staff diversity, foster career advancement opportunities, and share information and best practices among public media stations of similar size, operations, and geography.
“As job markets become more competitive and the media landscape evolves, we see an opportunity to work together to add to our skillset and advance the careers of our workforce,” said Kevin Martin, President and CEO of ideastream. “Collaboration has always been the cornerstone of public media, so it feels natural to work together to address these issues.”
The participating public media organizations are ideastream in Cleveland; WNED | WBFO in Buffalo; Detroit Public Television in Detroit; and WQED in Pittsburgh. All four organizations are member-supported public media that manage multiple television stations and digital media, and several also manage multiple radio stations.
Initially, the collaborative will be focused on joint training and development opportunities as well as shared job postings. Postings at all the stations will be considered exclusive postings across the collaborative, giving employees the opportunity to apply for positions at any of the four stations before they are posted externally and guarantee a first-round interview for qualified applicants. Joint trainings will include regional trainings and webinars with cost-sharing possibilities, as well as, opportunities for staff members to share skills and information with colleagues across the collaborative.
From Donald K. Boswell, President and CEO of WNED | WBFO in Buffalo, NY:
“Our stations share many of the same training and hiring challenges, so we’re looking forward to this formal partnership where we can work together to attract and grow a diverse workforce and provide career paths for our staff members where they may not have had one before."
From Rich Homberg, President and CEO of Detroit Public TV in Detroit, MI:
“The collaboration is a great step forward for public media in this region. It will create new training and career advancement opportunities for emerging leaders at our four stations, while also fostering the kind of rich diversity that reflects the communities we serve.”
From Deborah L. Acklin, President and CEO of WQED in Pittsburgh, PA:
“This new collaborative demonstrates the value that WQED, WNED | WBFO, ideastream in Cleveland and Detroit Public Television place on our employees. We want to help them achieve their full potential, while at the same time keep them in the public media family. This is a unique recruitment initiative that is a win-win for public stations and its employees.”
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WNED ǀ WBFO Media Contact: Heather Hare
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
(716) 845.7155 • hhare@wned.org
ideastream Media Contact: Calle Andrus
Communications Specialist
(216) 916-6434 • calle.andrus@ideastream.org
Detroit Public TV Media Contact: Martin Fischhoff
Director of Communications
(248) 305-3729 • mfischhoff@dptv.org
WQED Media Contact: Jody Doherty
Managing Director of Corporate and Community Affairs
(412) 622-1361 • jdoherty@wqed.org