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Boise Idaho 83725-1030

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August 5, 2004

Public Radio Stations Complete Major News Expansion
New bureaus, additional reporters to provide regional coverage

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Boise State Radio has announced the opening of its North Idaho News Bureau at the studios of KXLY in Coeur d�Alene. The North Idaho News Bureau is a partnership of eight National Public Radio affiliates who have pooled resources to create a regional news unit to provide improved breaking news and feature coverage. The collaborating stations have established new bureaus in Richland, Wash., and Coeur d�Alene, Idaho, and expanded an existing bureau in Olympia, Wash. The station consortium, known as the Northwest News Network (NNN), has committed more than $1.2 million to the enterprise. That includes a 3-year, $535,280 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to launch the Regional News Project. For Boise State Radio, with transmitters throughout much of Southern Idaho, receiving news from the northern part of the state was a challenge. With its own news bureau and the partnership of the other NNN radio stations, Boise State Radio is now poised to contribute and benefit from staffing at the Coeur d�Alene studios. Contributing to the partnership is commercial broadcasting company KXLY, which is leasing studio and office space in Couer d�Alene, creating the physical space for the North Idaho News Bureau. Staffing the North Idaho News Bureau is Elizabeth Wynne Johnson. Johnson comes from KMUN in Astoria, Ore., where she was host for All Things Considered and a reporter. She has a master�s degree in documentary film production from Stanford University. With multiple transmitters and translators, public radio stations can be heard virtually everywhere in the Northwest; however, there are vast portions of the Northwest that lack adequate local and regional public radio news coverage. The Regional News Project will close that gap and provide public radio listeners all over the region with valuable local and regional news they might not otherwise hear. NNN Board President Wayne Roth said, �This news project is an exciting opportunity to serve public radio listeners throughout the Pacific Northwest with news and information about the area they call home. Coverage originating from both urban and rural communities will focus on vital regional issues affecting all listeners. In addition to increased public service, the collaboration leverages the local news investments of participating stations.� Coeur d�Alene and Richland were chosen as locations for new bureaus to extend public radio�s news gathering capacity in a logical and cost effective way. Northern Idaho is feeling the pains of rapid growth and, along with northeastern Washington, dealing with changes to its natural resource-driven economy. In turn, Richland provides an ideal base to cover the farming and water issues of central Washington and northeastern Oregon and focus on the changing demographics of the Northwest. The new bureau reporters will be able to react more quickly and provide better-informed stories than relying on correspondents from Seattle or Portland. A roving regional reporter will augment the bureau coverage while traveling throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and southern British Columbia. Public radio listeners can tune in to the expanded regional coverage during the signature news programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered and during the local newsmagazines aired on some of the regional affiliates. The Regional News Project will emphasize topics of broad interest ranging from natural resources, Northwest business and farming, to Indian tribes, Hanford news, military and human interest stories. The participating public radio stations have a proven track record of successful regional news cooperatives. In the mid-1980s, Oregon stations founded a state capital bureau in Salem. In 1991, a similar bureau was created in Olympia. In 1994, Idaho capital coverage began flowing to stations throughout the Northwest, provided by Boise State Radio. The Regional News Project expands this collaborative news gathering approach to other important but underserved population centers in the Northwest. Regional News Project members broadcast on 49 stations throughout the Pacific Northwest, including three stations in the top-25 Arbitron markets. The weekly audience of these stations exceeds 1.1 million, with listeners as far south as Mendocino, Calif. and as far north as Vancouver, Canada. Participants in the Regional News Project are Boise State Radio, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Jefferson Public Radio (Ashland, Ore.), Northwest Public Radio (Pullman, Wash.), Spokane Public Radio, KLCC (Eugene, Ore.), KPLU (Tacoma-Seattle, Wash.), and KUOW (Seattle, Wash.). NNN is a private non-profit, tax-exempt corporation established in 1989. Its purpose is to initiate and foster efforts to enhance public understanding of public affairs issues through the use of broadcast media and other activities. -30- Contacts Jim East Associate General Manager, Network Programming Voice: 208 947-5659 Fax: 208 344-6631 jeast@boisestate.edu Terry Fitzpatrick Regional editor, Northwest News Network 206-221-3576 catchfitz@hotmail.com Media Contact Kathleen Craven communications and marketing 208 426-3275 kcraven@boisestate.edu

Last reviewed on Thursday, July 21, 2005