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Corporation for Public Broadcasting Local Content and Services Report

1. Describe your overall goals and approach to address identified community issues, needs, and interests through your station’s vital local services, such as multi-platform long and short-form content, digital and in-person engagement, education services, community information, partnership support, and other activities, and audiences you reached or new audiences you engaged. The goal of WTEB, Public Radio East’s Classical Network, is to provide a fine arts and classical music service to eastern North Carolina. To that end Public Radio East/WTEB broadcasts, annually, 6,500 hours of classical music to the 14 county coverage area via terrestrial broadcast, and live stream broadcast on our website at www.publicradioeast.org. In addition, through our news department, we regularly report on upcoming classical concerts and relevant fine art interests through broadcasts and digital platforms. An example of such reporting can be found at http://publicradioeast.org/post/north-carolina-symphony-comes-new-bern. Public Radio East maintains a Calendar of Events, via our website, which is considered one of the most comprehensive events calendars in this region. We are able to also produce our Public Service Announcement program using the content on our events calendar. Public Radio East broadcasts on average 12 - 14 public service announcements each day that, on WTEB, center on classical and fine arts offerings within our broadcast area. Through our Media Sponsorship program we offer local non- profits intensive schedules of promotional announcements to support their classical and fine art offerings. Such organizations as the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival, among others, owe their success to these partnerships. Public Radio East partners on average with 28 fine arts groups to promote more than 112 events annually. Our classical hosts also work directly with fine art, non-profit organizations to provide pre-concert educational lectures to the community. Lastly, through this media sponsorship program Public Radio East is able to provide tickets to live events to members of our listening audience including senior citizens, students and the military. 2. Describe key initiatives and the variety of partners with whom you collaborated, including other public media outlets, community nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, the business community, teachers and parents, etc. This will illustrate the many ways you’re connected across the community and engaged with other important organizations in the area. Public Radio East and Craven Community College continue to collaborate on the Exploration Lecture and International Film Series. The lecture series was established as a vehicle to explore trends in science, health, technology, regional culture and education. This year the series was reconstructed to explore the creative process. Three artists were presented in this series and included a choreographer, a classical orchestra conductor and composer, and a contemporary folk group. Each participant elaborated on how they create their specific product, and then performed the piece. At each juncture the audience participated with questions and observations. The environment is an important issue in eastern North Carolina, one which cuts across all demographics. This fiscal year our News Department has broadcast more than 32 stories concerning environmental issues affecting the coastal waters of this region. Public Radio East, through our media sponsorship program, has worked extensively with such environmental awareness groups as The North Carolina Coastal Federation and the Neuse Riverkeepers Foundation. We are presently working on a project with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, a Division of the state of North Carolina Inland Fisheries, to replenish the striped bass population in the Neuse and Tar- Pamlico Rivers. Using our Spring Membership campaign as the vehicle, we will offer 100 striped bass fries for each pledge. The fry, or baby striped bass, will then be nurtured to release size and stocked in rivers by the state agency in late spring. The News Department will report on the Wildlife Resources Commission’s work. The striped bass is an important fish for both environmental and leisure- fishing activities and contributes greatly to fishing tourism in this region. 3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served. Our classical music service initiative has helped establish both the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival as important cultural events in this region. The Symphony concerts are regularly sold out now and the Symphony management credits Public Radio East involvement with that success. The Carolina Chamber Music now produces both a late summer and early winter series, which its management credits Public Radio East for increases in audience for chamber music in this region. Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center directly credits Public Radio East for the increase in audience for the lecture and film series. The International Film Series has grown tremendously in the past three years, increasing its audience from 285 per show to more than 500, and necessitating an additional show for each film presentation. Public Radio East is the only media partner for the series and the Craven Community College Lifetime Learning Coordinator credits Public Radio East sponsorship with the growth of the program. While our striped bass project has not yet begun, we can look at a similar project we initiated in the past with the NC Coastal Federation. We used our Membership Campaign to assist the federation in building an oyster reef. The project was successful—we garnered enough pledges to contribute 800 bushels of oyster shells. That in turn was enough to build an entire oyster reef. The reef would eventually house oysters and those oysters would act as filters for the coastal waters. The NC Federation was extremely happy with the coverage they received, the increase in awareness about their organization, as well as an increase in their membership rolls, and of course, the oyster reef. Incidentally, the reef was constructed by Public Radio East volunteers. 3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served. Our classical music service initiative has helped establish both the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival as important cultural events in this region. The Symphony concerts are regularly sold out now and the Symphony management credits Public Radio East involvement with that success. The Carolina Chamber Music now produces both a late summer and early winter series, which its management credits Public Radio East for increases in audience for chamber music in this region. Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center directly credits Public Radio East for the increase in audience for the lecture and film series. The International Film Series has grown tremendously in the past three years, increasing its audience from 285 per show to more than 500, and necessitating an additional show for each film presentation. Public Radio East is the only media partner for the series and the Craven Community College Lifetime Learning Coordinator credits Public Radio East sponsorship with the growth of the program. While our striped bass project has not yet begun, we can look at a similar project we initiated in the past with the NC Coastal Federation. We used our Membership Campaign to assist the federation in building an oyster reef. The project was successful—we garnered enough pledges to contribute 800 bushels of oyster shells. That in turn was enough to build an entire oyster reef. The reef would eventually house oysters and those oysters would act as filters for the coastal waters. The NC Federation was extremely happy with the coverage they received, the increase in awareness about their organization, as well as an increase in their membership rolls and of course the oyster reef. Incidentally, the reef was constructed by Public Radio East volunteers. 3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators of success, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served. Our classical music service initiative has helped establish both the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival as important cultural events in this region. The Symphony concerts are regularly sold out now and the Symphony management credits Public Radio East involvement with that success. The Carolina Chamber Music now produces both a late summer and early winter series, which its management credits Public Radio East for increases in audience for chamber music in this region. Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center directly credits Public Radio East for the increase in audience for the lecture and film series. The International Film Series has grown tremendously in the past three years, increasing its audience from 285 per show to more than 500, and necessitating an additional show for each film presentation. Public Radio East is the only media partner for the series and the Craven Community College Lifetime Learning Coordinator credits Public Radio East sponsorship with the growth of the program. While our striped bass project has not yet begun, we can look at a similar project we initiated in the past with the NC Coastal Federation. We used our Membership Campaign to assist the federation in building an oyster reef. The project was successful—we garnered enough pledges to contribute 800 bushels of oyster shells. That in turn was enough to build an entire oyster reef. The reef would eventually house oysters and those oysters would act as filters for the coastal waters. The NC Federation was extremely happy with the coverage they received, the increase in awareness about their organization, as well as an increase in their membership rolls and of course the oyster reef. Incidentally, the reef was constructed by Public Radio East volunteers. 4. Please describe any efforts (e.g. programming, production, engagement activities) you have made to investigate and/or meet the needs of minority and other diverse audiences (including, but not limited to, new immigrants, people for whom English is a second language and illiterate adults) during Fiscal Year 2013, and any plans you have made to meet the needs of these audiences during Fiscal Year 2014. If you regularly broadcast in a language other than English, please note the language broadcast. Within our listening area of Eastern North Carolina Public, Radio East partners with organizations through our events calendar and PSA program that work to meet the needs of minority and diverse audiences. Such organizations include: Craven Literacy Council, which offers workshops to train volunteers to work with adults in need of help with basic literacy skills, or who need to learn and speak English. World Affairs Council of Eastern NC , in promoting their lectures on Myanmar and Southeast Asia. Eastern North Carolina has a large population of Burmese refugees. These lectures and workshops are designed to give residents of eastern North Carolina a better understanding of the homeland of their new neighbors. Carteret Literacy Council, which trains volunteers to teach adult immigrants to speak, read and write English. These partnerships consist primarily of promoting events that are held both for outreach and for fund raising for these organizations. We worked to meet the needs of the very diverse audience that is in our coverage area in FY 13 and will continue in FY 14. Public Radio East currently does not have any regular broadcasts in languages other than English. 5. Please assess the impact that your CPB funding had on your ability to serve your community. What were you able to do with your grant that you wouldn't be able to do if you didn't receive it? Funding from the CPB accounts for approximately 11% of the Public Radio East operating budget. The 14 counties in eastern North Carolina that are served by Public Radio East are below the national standards for literacy, health care service, and annual income. Public Radio East is dependent on federal support to sustain the broadcast service to this rural area. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to continue to produce news features that cover the issues that affect the people in our coverage area without vital funding that CPB provides. Ongoing cuts in our CPB funding continue to cause hardships for the station.

Public Radio East is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Craven Community College. A complete list of the Board of Trustees of Craven Community College is available at the following link:

http://cravencc.edu/about/board-of-trustees/