If
you have worked for a public media organization during the past couple of
decades you have heard about the Public Radio Program Directors association (PRPD)
Core Values research. Since they were introduced in 2002, the Core Values have
become public radio’s “north star.”
The
Core Values are also a major reason for public radio’s success in the past
twenty years. The Values define what public radio is and what public radio is
not.
Abby
Goldstein, CEO and Executive Director of PRPD, told Spark News in an email:
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Abby
Goldstein
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"I think the Core Values
work is always important because it is the foundation of our programming."
"Programmers need to rely on those core values now more than ever. It’s so
important to respect people’s intelligence and keep the principles of civility,
integrity and a sense of purpose front and center."
Goldstein
says that the PRPD Core Values were important to her career when she was first
working in public radio:
"In 2000, during my first
year as a program director I attended a Core Values session at the Public Radio
Conference. Since I was so new as a programmer, it was the first thing I
learned."
"The Core Values set me on
my career path. It was a life changing moment and I still carry the laminated
card in my briefcase."
In
2018, Mikel Ellcessor, Fred Jacobs and Sal LoCurto conducted a webinar that
asked the question: Are Public Radio’s
Core Values Still Relevant?
The team tested the Core Values by looking at the results of Jacobs’ 2018 Public Radio Tech Survey.
They concluded that the Core
Values were fine and had become even more relevant.
In
2020, the question might be Are Public
Radio’s Core Values Even More Relevant Now than they were in 2002. In other
words, are the Values important in our world of the Covid-19 pandemic,
protesters in the nation’s streets decrying racial injustice and President
Trump’s dictatorial actions.
We
say yes, they are even more relevant today.
THE ORIGIN OF PRPD’S CORE
VALUES
(Note: The charts below are from the 2018 webinar)
In
the summer of 2000, Marcia Alvar was the President of PRPD. She and members of
the PRPD board began the Core Values Project by identifying a vocabulary that
defines public radio's fundamental principles.
The
vocabulary was developed in consultation with the executive producers of public
radio's top seven nationally syndicated programs at that time.
In
2001, the project turned its attention to "The Core Values of Local
Programming."
Researcher George Bailey studied the responses made by public
radio core listeners in a series of Focus Groups in four major markets.
The
study confirmed that public radio listeners shared the core values, demonstrated
a "vigilant curiosity about the world" and saw their local station as
part of an interconnected world of ideas.
Regarding
local news, listeners in the focus group study found that respondents consistently
used the word "local" as pejorative and "local newa" did not provide the
information and context to "connect the dots".
These
findings caused a sea-change in the way local news was written and
performed.
Then,
in late 2002, defining public radio’s Core Values became one of PRPD’s major goals.
The initial meeting was held in Los Angeles and was moderated
by Tom Thomas, President of the Station Resource Group (SRG).
According
to notes taken at the time, the participants at the meeting included PRPD Board
Members Michael Arnold from WUNC, Robin Gehl from WGUC, Don Hein from KLCC,
Eric Nuzum from WKSU, George Boosey from WBUR, Kingsley Smith from NPR, Joan
Swanson from JazzWorks, Kim Grehn
from Connecticut Public Radio, Karla Walker from Classical Public Radio and John Decker from KPBS.
The
board decided at the meeting to move forward with a larger Core Values study
that embraced other major public radio formats.
Results
from subsequent research were used to shape content, hire and train talent and
improve listener service.
On the left is a photo of Jay Kernis, now a reporter and producer for CBS News. Kernis was NPR's program director and co-creator of Morning Edition.
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