Miller marks 25 years at NEPM

Dec. 30, 2020 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

SPRINGFIELD – In the past 25 year, WFCR, the public radio station for western New England has seen many changes – moving its studios to Springfield, developing a second news station and merging with WGBY, the PBS station serving the region – and Martin Miller has seen it all.

Miller is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the New England Public Radio’s CEO general manager. He joined the organization in 1995.

“When I got here, we barely had a website,” he recalled to Reminder Publishing. “I’ve seen the incredible amount of technology that gives people access to media in a variety of ways.”

According to information from the organization, “During his tenure at NEPR, its audience and annual budget have almost doubled, and the station has grown from just WFCR 88.5FM to a thirteen-station network with three program services, a website and active social media presence. Under his leadership the station moved into state-of-the-art headquarters in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts in 2014 and re-opened the renovated Five College Studios in Hampshire House on the UMass Amherst campus in 2016.”

The recent merging of WFCR with WGBY to form New England Public Media (NEPM), Miller explained, was motivated by the fact “we couldn’t be just a radio station, the television station couldn’t be just a TV station.” Both organizations have been strengthened from the merger, he added.

Miller explained there has been a “major contraction in print reporting” as well as a decline in commercial radio stations that offer local news. Traditional news outlets have been affected by loss of advertising revenue, he added.

There are “news deserts” in some parts of the nation, he noted, in which communities are without adequate reporting.

“We saw an opportunity for public media,” he said.

Being local is the new organization’s strength and although it is competing with national news media, the national cannot provide local news, he explained. “We serve a larger and more diverse audience. We speak to localism and community engagement,” he said.

The issue is to “how to best serve the community,” he added.

Although the pandemic has presented challenges for media organizations, the merger has allowed the two outlets to be stronger. “We do much better than standalone operations,” Miller said.

He said no buildings were closed and only one person lost a job. “Other than that, we didn’t have to lay anybody off.”

He said that anecdotal feedback indicated “people rely on our services more now in the pandemic than in the past.”

Miller added that in terms of financial support for the non-profit outlet, “People have stepped up more than in the past.”

NEPM has broadcast programming to assist are schools in remote learning. “That’s a very, very big thing,” Miller said.

NEPM has made “racial justice” a high priority he said and there is a new campaign for multi-cultural programming called “new voices.”

The station is continuing its Media Lab program, which gives local students the opportunity to learn news production. Miller believes the program is important.   

He said, “Everyone has a story to tell, and if we really listen to each other’s stories and not talk past one another, we have the opportunity to walk in that person’s shoes, and through understanding, we can make progress in our communities toward a better civil society.”

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