Ideastream Public Media & WKSU: Overview
Ideastream Public Media and WKSU joined forces in October 2021, building upon decades of award-winning journalism from two of the region’s leaders in news and information, to create one of Northeast Ohio’s largest news organizations. This partnership creates an expanded and sustainable regional news service that delivers local, statewide and national news, using a combination of broadcast, digital and on-demand platforms to increase the audience for Ideastream Public Media’s news and information programming from 2.4 to 3.6 million people in 22 counties throughout Northeast Ohio.
Since announcing the agreement, Ideastream Public Media has brought together the staffs of WCPN and WKSU, working together to develop programming, technological and communications plans. The unified organization, which secured support and a vote of confidence from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has also conducted a variety of community conversations, as well as a quantitative survey of listeners to get their input on how Ideastream Public Media can provide more expansive news coverage.
As a result:
- Expanded News Service: Ideastream Public Media will expand the number of weekday and weekend newscasts on WKSU and add a mid-day news host on weekdays, providing local news service from 5am – 6pm on weekdays.
- Service to Cleveland, Akron and Canton: Unifying the Ideastream Public Media and WKSU news teams will allow for the establishment of a regional newsroom, which will not only add regional context and relevance to news coverage, but also establish an Akron/Canton news hub.
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