CPB Awards Grant for ‘1A Across America’ to Engage Local Voices in National Dialogue

WAMU 88.5 Leads Two-Year Collaboration with Six Public Media Stations

October 25, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C, (October 25, 2018) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded WAMU 88.5, Washington’s NPR station, $750,000 to fund 1A Across America, a two-year collaborative effort to bring more local viewpoints to 1A’s national audiences. Produced by WAMU, 1A is a daily weekday show reaching listeners nationwide on 335 NPR stations.

With support from CPB,1A’s production team will work with six public media stations across the country to cover underreported local issues and points of view through on-air discussions, interviews, field reporting and live events.

“CPB has a long-term commitment to supporting diversity in public media – including geographic diversity and points of view,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB’s senior vice president of journalism and radio. “With our support, 1A Across America will bring more local views on issues of importance into a national conversation that is informed by local journalism.”

Since its launch in January 2017, 1A, hosted by Joshua Johnson, has grown more than 90 percent in station carriage and expanded its audience to 3.63 million listeners nationwide. The new station collaboration will build upon 1A’s hallmark of engaging audiences in innovative ways and help grow the program’s grassroots network of participating communities representing a geographical and political cross-section of America.

“1A Across America is a valuable opportunity to explore local conversations and tap into original local journalism taking place at our partner stations leading up to the 2020 presidential elections,” said Andi McDaniel, WAMU’s senior director of content and news. “This is part of our commitment to programming that truly reflects America.”

Participating stations include:

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About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmediaFacebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for other updates.

About WAMU
WAMU 88.5 is the NPR station in the nation’s capital and Washington’s source for local and national news, podcasts and smart, thoughtful programming. WAMU produces the nationally acclaimed program 1A, the daily local talk show The Kojo Nnamdi Show, the podcast Diane Rehm: On My Mind and award-winning regional news that spans topics from race and power to business and the arts. WAMU also publishes DCist, a local news and culture site, and is the lead station for Guns & America, a national reporting collaborative exploring the role of guns in American life. WAMU is member-supported, professionally staffed and licensed to American University. Founded in 1961, WAMU reaches an audience of nearly one million listeners on-air, online, and on demand. Learn more about WAMU or listen live at www.wamu.org. 
 

Press Contacts:
CPB
Letitia King
press@cpb.org

WAMU
Anna Fry
afry@wamu.org
202-885-8905