(bright upbeat music) - [Announcer 1] You're listening to WXXI News.

Good morning.

- [Announcer 2] You are listening to Classical 91.5.

- [Announcer 3] You are listening to The Root.

- Welcome again to this neighborhood.

(bright upbeat music) - Good evening, I'm Chris Hastings, president and CEO of WXXI Public Media.

And thank you for joining us for our town hall this evening.

For those of you who are visually impaired, I want to take a moment and describe myself to you.

I'm a Black man in my early 50s wearing glasses with a low-cut haircut.

I am wearing a gray suit.

I will ask my guests as they come up to do the same.

I want to also mention that we are coming to you live from WXXI studios, and I'm joined in studio by an audience filled with WXXI members, some of WXXI's board of directors and our community board of advisors who are sitting in front of me.

Welcome.

Tonight I anna share updates about your public media station.

As many of you know, WXXI faced the funding of federal funding last year.

But through the support of our community, we are weathering the change.

Tonight, we want to update you on how we're doing, where we are going, and take your questions.

Before we get into the conversation this evening, I wanna share a little bit about why I chose to come to Rochester to lead WXXI because I'm still kind of new here.

And I just wanna be clear, this work for me is been deeply personal.

Now, I grew up outside of Philadelphia in a city called Chester, Pennsylvania.

Chester is an old industrial city with a proud history.

But like many cities in America, it has also faced its share of challenges.

In some ways, Chester and Rochester actually have a lot in common.

I often say, when I look at Rochester, I see Chester.

Both cities were once powered by industry, both have deep cultural histories, and both are communities that have had to continually reinvent themselves while holding onto their identity.

Now, I was born and raised in Chester, but my mother wanted something very specific for me.

She wanted me to have access to a strong education.

She made the decision to send me to a school outside the city, to the suburbs of Philadelphia in a small town called Springfield, Pennsylvania.

Now, Springfield and Chester were actually really close.

They were really divided by zip codes, but Springfield had a stronger school system.

Now that decision changed my life.

Now, when I was young in this school system, they discovered I had a learning disability.

Reading and traditional classroom learning were difficult for me.

And like many kids who struggle in school, I could have easily have been discouraged.

But something remarkable happened, the school had a media program.

And one day they literally put a camera in my hand and I was about maybe 10 years old.

And I can tell you, from that moment on, I never actually really put the cameras down.

Now, what they discovered about me was that technology and media gave me a different way to learn, a way to process information, to tell stories, to understand the world.

Instead of seeing my learning disability as a barrier, those teachers found a way to help me learn through creativity and storytelling.

At the same time, I also was one of those kids who grew up as a PBS kid.

Yes, I am a PBS kid.

Programs on public television helped me develop a love of reading and learning, but they also did something else, they sparked my imagination, They made me curious about how television worked and how stories were made.

That curiosity stayed with me.

Now, after high school, I went on to college, and that was not even guarantee that I was gonna go to college, but I did.

And I was fortunate enough to land an internship at Black Entertainment Television in Washington DC, which eventually turned into a full-time job.

Around that same time, I went on back to school and I earned my master's degree.

And at American University in Washington DC, I had a cohort of people who were actually working at PBS.

That experience introduced me to the world of public broadcasting, and it changed the direction of my career.

It eventually led me to WGBH in Boston, the largest producer of content for PBS, where I worked in children's television, including the PBS Kids show "Zoom."

Later I moved into documentary independent film, working with filmmakers from across the country through the WORLD channel to bring important stories to a national audience.

Those experiences taught me something that I still believe strongly to this day.

Public media works best when it's deeply connected to the communities it serves, which brings me to Rochester.

What I started learning about WXXI and about this city, its creative energy, its universities, its music scene, the history of innovation and civic leadership.

I saw a place where public media could play a powerful role in bringing people together through journalism, culture, education, and storytelling.

And that's really why we're here tonight.

Since arriving here, one of the things I've learned is that, people experience WXXI in very different ways.

Some people know us through WXXI News, others through WXXI Classical and The Root.

Many families know us through PBS Kids, and others through The Little Theater, our CITY Magazine.

What connects all that work is our mission to serve this community with great storytelling, journalism, music, culture, and conversation.

Now, before we talk more about that tonight, we wanted to give you a glimpse of the kind of work that's happening across WXXI every day.

Let's take a look.

(bright dramatic music) - [Announcer 1] It's an all live set edition of "World Cafe" today.

- [Announcer 2] From NPR, and this is "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!"

- [Announcer 3] This is live from Hochstein on WXXI.

Hear Andreas Delfs conducting his favorite Brahms Symphony next time from the RPO.

(gentle orchestral music) (bright energetic music) - [All] Action.

- A way to expand upon that sort of content is to have a podcast.

- If I want to get anywhere in life, I have to advocate for myself.

(soft violin music) - Please welcome Jon Dretto.

- Thanks so much for having me.

- Talk about our local NPR station.

- I wanna say thank you to Mountain Stage for coming to Rochester.

Rochester loves music, right?

(upbeat music) (bright energetic music) - Oh, that's so cool.

That reel gives you a really good sense of the creative work that is flowing in and out of WXXI and this community.

To talk more about how that work comes together, I want to introduce you to Julio Saenz.

WXXI's chief content officer.

And I want to just mention, he is the first ever chief content officer for WXXI.

Julio oversees everything from journalism and music to cultural programming and partnerships across WXXI.

Julio, thank you for being here.

Now, I'm gonna be honest with you, you are like the serial entrepreneur, and I just mentioned you're the first sort of chief content officer.

I want you to just a minute, just tell us a little bit about yourself.

- Sure.

So first of all, description about myself.

I am a latino male in my 50s, a little more gray hair than I want.

- [Chris] I know, right?

- With a dark suit and a green and blue tie.

And I'm from Rochester, born and raised.

Grew up right off of Clifford Avenue, went to School No.

8, went to Franklin High School.

And went away for college, worked all over the country in media.

And always loved Rochester, always wanted to come back here.

And I've been entrepreneurial in several ways here.

Because media was important at the moment, so I actually started a bilingual newspaper called ConXion because though, when we had had gone out of business, and we needed that, we needed to be able to tell those stories.

So I started that paper.

And then later on, after working in media in Los Angeles and Atlanta, I came back and I helped start Poder 97.1, which is the first 24-hour Latin radio station in the state and one of our partners.

- So, you know, Julio, many people know WXXI through specific programs or through a station, but you oversee the entire content strategy.

How do you think about WXXI role in Rochester's cultural and media landscape?

- Sure.

I think especially in the cultural landscape, we really are an arts organization in many ways that also produces news and so many other things.

But we have so many key partnerships with the arts institutions in the areas.

And what I love about my job is that we have all these great creators, all these just great writers, great storytellers, and I get to bring us all together and work together to tell these stories and find ways that we can collaborate.

And it just makes for a more powerful experience for our audiences, whether it's taking a show that might be on PBS and having a screening at the little fort, having a panel discussion, and then a show on connections and finding all those ways to tell these stories.

- So you and your team, you've been helping lead the development of what I am calling WXXI Studios.

What does that mean in practice?

- Yes, it's a great concept because we know how important the creative economy is to Rochester, and the ascension of creators as well.

And here we have these wonderful studios, all this expertise, all these platforms and equipment.

And what we wanna do with WXXI Studios is connect with the community, with content creators that are here in Rochester with organizations that we can partner with to help tell the stories.

We have a lot of expertise in the building, but there's even more experts out there.

And we can partner with them to do podcasts, to work on documentaries.

We did a documentary last fall on the HBCU classic, and that's a story that I don't know who else would've been able to help tell in this area.

We were able to, with our knowledge.

The PBS ecosystem get some funding for it, and then air it on our station and tell a unique story of how that classic and its associated college fair is exposing lots of kids to the possibility of going to college.

- I'm super excited by what's gonna come out of the studios.

We're just beginning this work.

I think you saw in the video Jazz, like, you probably know her, Jazzy T.

- [Julio] Great example.

- Runs a podcast studio, and she came and did it right here on the stage, so that was super, super exciting.

Talk to me a little bit more about some of the other parts of WXXI.

So when we think about music, music is a big part of WXXI's identity, the WXXI Classical and The Root.

Why does music matter so much for public media and in this city?

- Sure.

So music is just in the DNA of Rochester.

I looked this up, we have the most musicians per capita.

We're the fourth highest percentage of musicians per capita of any city in the United States, Nashville's number one.

And you may not think of Rochester as being in that list, but that's how important music is to this area because of its institutions.

And what we do is we help, we partner with a lot of those organizations.

We partner with RPO, with Hochstein.

And then whether you're into classical music via our classical station, or you just want to find something completely different on The Route, which is our alternative station.

You're dealing with human beings.

And it's different than when you turn on a smart speaker and some algorithm is telling you what you might want to hear.

And sometimes that works.

But guess what?

After a while, you just get caught in a loop.

But when you listen to our stations, you're listening to what's curated by actual folks that can suggest new things that open your taste up to new ideas.

- When I tell people at home like how music just sort of runs through the veins of the city and the people here, the fact that The Little Theater has music six nights a week, like live music, the city, like, it boggles my mind that there are so many musicians, but people actually come out.

Like, I was down there on a Sunday at The Little Theater and it was full.

- [Julio] And it was probably a snowstorm.

- And it was probably a snowstorm.

Right, right.

But when we think about just this creative economy, how we're sort of able to cover it, CITY Magazine comes to mind.

CITY Magazine plays an important role in covering Rochester's creative community.

How does that work complement what we do across radio and television?

- Yeah, well, I see us as having these great centers of subject matter expertise.

And CITY's just another one of those where, for years now, CITY's been in our community covering the art scene, helping people decide what to go check out, what to explore, what to find.

And even now with our digital platforms, it's just opening it up even more where we're doing a lot more video where some of that content can then partner with our radio stations.

Some of our hosts on the radio stations are writing for CITY Magazine.

It's a great collaboration.

- Thank you.

Now, if we look forward, what kinds of stories and creators do you hope WXXI can support even more in the future?

- Sure, I think there's two things.

One, there's a lot of fun things to cover, all these arts and things that we've talked about.

But also I think, because of our mission as a news organization to present balance and fair news, there's a lot of stories that aren't being told in every day because of some of the changes in the media landscape.

There's more and more news deserts.

And we can expand beyond our traditional audiences and traditional areas of expertise to help tell those stories because they're important and they need to be heard.

- Excellent.

Julio, thank you.

What I love about this conversation is that, it shows how public media is not just about broadcasting, it's about creating spaces where culture, creativity, and community meet.

Now, if you would like to invest in the work we do, throughout this program, there's gonna be a QR code at the bottom of your screen where you can make a pledge to support our work.

Now I'm gonna move on to our next segment, but I just wanted to share that because you probably already saw it pop up along the way.

But moving into our next segment, education has always been one of the most important parts of public media.

For generations, families, for generations of families, public television has been a place where kids could learn, explore, and develop curiosity about the world.

Also, before they ever set foot in a classroom.

PBS Kids remains one of the most trusted educational resources in our country and here in Rochester.

WXXI has had a long history of supporting learning, both on screen and in the community.

Let's take a look at some of that work.

- [Narrator] For more than 60 years, WXXI has been a trusted educational partner serving nine counties in the Rochester Finger Lakes region.

♪ It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood ♪ - [Narrator] Parents can rely on PBS Kids for safe, high-quality programming that fosters early learning and positive social values, sparking curiosity, inspiring discoveries, and nurturing a lifelong love of learning.

- I grew up with PBS Kids and my kids have grown up with PBS Kids.

It's educational and it's wholesome programming.

They're learning good values from it.

- My daughter's in pre-K and loves PBS Kids.

It's something that is a routine for us.

So it was kind of cool to have the PBS program kind of incorporated in some activities that I can do with her at home.

- [Narrator] Out in the community, you'll find us partnering with schools, libraries, and local organizations, bringing PBS learning tools directly into real spaces where kids and families spend time.

- We know that when we have an event that we co-host with WXXI, that they are a great partner with just getting the information out everywhere.

We use a lot of the activities from PBS Kids and just the expertise that come with the education department at WXXI.

- I love PBS Kids.

- We love PBS Kids.

- "Wild Kratts."

- Ta-da.

- [Presenter] It's a big world out there, lots to see, lots to do, and lots you can be.

- [Announcer] For young adults, our digital and social media content connects students with real world career paths, showcasing high-demand jobs, and introducing opportunities that exist right here in our region.

And WXXI is a major contributor to PBS Learning Media, a comprehensive digital library offering thousands of standard aligned videos and resources for teachers, parents, and caregivers.

- They actually offer educational activities that you can do with your kids at home.

And I feel like this is really where the fun starts, the learning starts.

- [Presenter] Wherever learning happens, WXXI remains dedicated to being a vital educational resource at home, in schools, and throughout our region.

It's our mission to be there, accessible to all, to educate, inspire, and enrich the lives of those we serve.

(bright gentle music) - I am a PBS kid.

To talk more about this work, I want to welcome Cara Rager.

WXXI's director of early learning.

Cara leads our early education initiatives and works closely with schools, libraries, and community partners to make sure that the education mission at WXXI reaches families across the region.

Cara, you know, like I say this often, like my teachers were my helpers.

And one of the things I want people to know about you is that you actually are or were a teacher- - Yes.

- before you came here.

- Yes, I was.

Thank you for having me.

Before we get started, I will also offer a description.

I'm a white woman in my early 40s with brown hair and black glasses wearing a pink jacket.

- [Chris] Very cool.

- Yeah, I was, I am an educator.

I feel like once an educator, always an educator, my classroom just looks different now.

But I did spend time in the classroom before coming here, which gives some great perspective.

And I think that we're really lucky here because we have other staff who also have that experience in our education team that really provides a nice bridge between the work that we do and the experiences that we also have that they have as well.

- Excellent.

Excellent.

Excellent.

So, you know, PBS Kids is trusted by families across the country.

What makes that programming so valuable to young learners?

- You know, we use this phrase a lot when we think about books, that books provide windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for kids and for readers.

I think PBS Kids programs do the same thing.

They provide opportunity for kids to see themselves, to see their neighbors, to see what others are doing, to be inspired by that, and to wonder what could be, even if it's in a fantastical space.

So it could be real kids, but it also could be a fuzzy tiger riding around on a trolley.

But all of those things matter.

And providing spaces for curiosity to exist, to be inspired, to wonder, and to be joyful, you know, it brings a lot of joy to families.

- When you think about WXXI and our mission, how does WXXI think about the role of supporting learning for kids and families today?

- I think we have a duty because we are an educational media organization to model the ways that media can be used as a learning tool.

And so we really take that to heart when we're considering how we can use PBS Kids in real spaces.

We wanna make sure that we're modeling how to use media that's on a screen, but then also to bring it into real life so that we can be playful with it.

We can use it as something that gives us more information, we can have it provide lesson plans or unit ideas.

But it's our job because it's part of our mission and as an educational institution to really pay attention to those best practices and those developmentally-appropriate ways to integrate media as a tool so that we're modeling the behaviors that we want families and educators and community individuals to have around media.

- Okay.

So you're an educator and you just talked about educators.

Talk a little bit more about how we're supporting these teachers 'cause these teachers have a really hard job.

- [Cara] They do.

- And I know a lot of the work, I stepped in here a couple weeks ago, you were in here with a room full of teachers showing them how to use, tell me a little bit more about that.

- So we spend a lot of time offering trainings and professional development support on how to use PBS resources, either in a classroom space, but also in non-classroom spaces.

So in those non-traditional spaces, maybe rec centers or after-school programs or libraries.

All of those educators that exist out in the world, we wanna spend time together and really walk through what it could look like in using those tools in real spaces.

So problem solving, you know, the technology use or the internet inconsistencies.

But really walking through the, how do you use these platforms, how do we find these resources?

And also knowing that they can fall back to us to ask questions, to be their kind of technical support, to have a phone-a-friend, if you will, if they are unsure of how to use some of those tools.

So the goal is to connect the PBS resources with their real spaces and offer those sparks, right.

Those opportunities for learning.

- One of my many jobs at WGBH in Boston was working in the education department.

And before PBS Learning Media was PBS Learning Media, it was called Teacher's Domain.

- [Cara] Oh yes.

- And so they would send me out on a road to video teachers' best practices, and I would make videos.

Remember DVDs, y'all?

We would take those DVDs and we would share them with schools around the country.

When you think about the defunding, right, and not to get political, what do you think the impact of that is to schools around the country, where some public organization actually compromised because of that defunding?

- Yeah, I mean it's impacted a lot of things.

It's obviously impacted funding that goes directly to that work.

But it also impacts the national PBS Kids teams or national PBS teams who do some of the behind-the-scenes work of organizing those educational materials or approving that they end up in the right places to get to educators and children and families.

So we see it, I think, on every level, both at the station level, but also even nationally, like coordinating some of like the structures that you can find those tools in.

So it's very far reaching.

I think smaller stations felt it even harder.

But all of us did.

We did too.

I mean, we lost our federal grant that we were working on.

We don't know the complete blowback that that's gonna cause, we've seen some of it already.

And I think that it can't not be something that's present in our heads.

But it's also something that fuels us to find sustainable practices, to find the right kinds of partnerships to make sure we're spending our time the way that we should with the capacity that we have.

- I will say that I'm super proud of the work you guys are doing.

And like, people don't even know it enough that you guys, sometimes every weekend you're out doing educational sessions at libraries and whatnot.

But we actually host families here for PBS Family Nights.

Talk to me a little bit about that.

- Yeah, we host a monthly PBS Kids Family Night series with our partners, the Rochester City School District's Early Childhood department.

The goal is to provide ways that families can see how PBS Kids can be framed around early learning activity.

So connecting the pieces between what they're watching and what they're learning in their classroom and what they're experiencing at home.

So we might have a night, or this month is all about math 'cause March has got Pie Day.

So we got an opportunity to show families some new math content from PBS Kids and do hands-on activities that all connect to early numeracy skills, but all framed in a fun family night.

So families all feel like they're at a fun experience, but the learning is baked in there, and that's on purpose.

It's exciting for grownups, it's exciting for kids, but we're also modeling for the adults ways that they can use PBS Kids' content to inspire their kids to learn.

- So I wanna take an extra minute and talk a little bit about production of content.

Like WXXI actually has a history of producing content for young people.

And I know one of your first jobs here, you were part of those teams when we were producing children's content.

- What was that like?

- Super cool and very different.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, when I first started, one of the role, one piece of the role that I had was being an education consultant on "Homework Hotline" and "Assignment: The World."

What's really cool about both of those shows, I played like the tiniest role really in the big scheme of things, but "Homework Hotline" was on for over 30 years and "Assignment: The World" was on for over 50 years.

And so I think it's not unfamiliar to us and in creating content that's appropriate for young kids, but also big kids.

And really thinking about the ways that that's impactful and helpful and responsive to their needs.

- Okay.

Well I can say, if I have anything to do with it, we're gonna really work to get more production going.

We do have one youth center program going on.

It's not for TV, it's for TikTok, Roc Jobs Explained.

and we'll probably do a whole town hall about that.

But I'm just really excited by what you all are doing in the education department here.

And I want more people to know that it's like the heart of what we do here to be able to serve and build people in the future.

I would not be here if it wasn't for PBS Kids.

- You always say once a PBS Kids, always a PBS kid.

- Always a PBS kid.

Cara, thank you so much.

One of the things that makes public media unique is that education is not just a program, it's a part of our mission.

Another core part of WXXI mission is journalism and civic engagement.

At a time when people are searching for trusted information and thoughtful conversation, local public media plays an important role in helping communities understand the issues that affect their daily lives.

At WXXI, that work happens through our newsroom, through our investigative reporting, and through daily conversations with the community.

Here's a glimpse of that work.

- [Reporter] The electron solar farm-- - Good evening, I'm Jeff Bennett.

- And I'm Amna Nawaz.

- I'm Margaret Hoover.

- I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.

- Bring us up to speed then.

- Israel is vowing serious consequences.

- Did you get a commitment from President Trump?

We have to work on it - Today we live in a time when meaningful discourse is needed more than ever.

- Is this just at the end of the day very smart politics?

(bright energetic music) - Governor Hochul supports a plan to bring the Winter Olympics back to New York.

You're listening to WXXI News, I'm Beth Adams.

- [Brian] Year over year new car sales ended up flat for the county, up slightly nationwide, financing becomes an issue.

Brian Sharp, WXXI News.

- [Reporter] State Senator Jeremy Cooney is advancing a proposal that would allow New York employers to offer a benefit that he likens to an HSA account for commuting expenses.

- Today I wanna take a moment to appreciate what we now call Parcel Five.

- Mayor Malik Evans made the announcement that Parcel Five will remain a green space.

But that's really it.

It's just an announcement.

- [Reporter] Monroe Avenue is about to get a major facelift.

To start, they plan to reduce the road to one lane in each direction.

The town of Brighton hopes Monroe Ave will become the main street that it's always meant to be.

- What are you hearing from the community that downtown is missing?

- A grocery store is probably the number one thing we hear from downtown residents and workers.

- We tell everyone who doesn't know about Tina Palmer that we are a youth organizing agency to look at the issues in their community that impact them on a day-to-day basis.

- Our connection this hour was made with a man in Rochester walking around the city every day asking for help.

- One of the things that surprised me is how under-counted our homeless population actually is.

- Steven Miller-- - My former student.

- What's that?

- My former student.

- The Steven Miller in the Trump Administration?

Did you wanna say a little bit more about that before we listen to this clip?

- More than 2/3 of caregivers are women.

More than 1/3 are now over the age of 65.

- I have four children.

All of them have varying levels of disability.

- [Announcer] This is a voice of the voter primary debates presented by WXXI News.

- This debate includes the candidates on the ballot in the Democratic primary for Rochester mayor.

- This is Roberto Lagares from CITY Magazine and this is my first fringe.

Let's do it.

(bright energetic music continues) - Please welcome Evan Dawson, host of WXXI's "Connections."

One of the many faces of WXXI's newsroom that you hear every day here in Rochester.

Now, just real quick, Evan's gonna stay with us for the rest of the show because we're gonna switch roles in a little bit.

But now Evan's in a different place.

He's gotta be interviewed by his boss, and his boss is stumbling through question, so let's see how this all works out.

Now, one thing that I can tell you, and I think I've told you this.

Like when I took the job a year and a half ago, I went through many episodes of "Connections."

And "Connections" really did give me a good sense affirmed that this community, what it felt about itself 'cause every day, you have different aspects of this community.

It's like a mirror.

Like I learned about RMAPI through "Connections" 'cause you did a show on the road.

But that was before I even got here, but it was helpful for me.

And then when I actually got in into the community and I'd say, I'm president and they'd go, "Oh, I love Evan Dawson."

Wherever I go, people love what you're doing, every day from 12:00 to 02:00.

So, you know, I've heard you say on air that "Connections" is a public square, right?

And I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that.

- Well, first of all, I'm a white man in my mid 40s wearing a suit and tie and glasses tonight.

And I'm really representing a team of people, it's a great team that we have.

I get to be the face and the voice of it.

The reason I think we want a public square is, I think a generation ago something happened and it was building into this century with commercial talk radio and cable news, and then came blogs and then podcasts.

And for a while, people felt kind of validated, whatever my opinion is, I can find it, I don't have to be challenged.

And then people kinda went off and they got their own news sources and they got their own podcasts, but then they realized how disconnected they felt.

And neighbors started to be suspicious of neighbors.

And people thought, well, if someone has a different opinion, maybe I should not spend time with them or like them less or not let my kids hang out with them.

And I think people started to realize in the last decade that's not a healthy place to be, and we lost the public square a lot.

Now we can get it back.

And frankly, "Connections" has always been that, but we are trying to grow it in every possible way.

I know that's part of the mission you've brought because people are asking for that.

People want to know more about what their neighbors feel, what's going on at the state level, what's going on at the national level, what's happening locally and why they're hungry for that.

They don't just wanna be affirmed in what they already believe, they wanna learn more about the world and the people in it.

And I think that's why they're looking for this kind of a platform, frankly.

- You know, you used to be a former TV anchor.

- [Evan] Yeah.

- And this defunding, like when the narrative came out about defunding was always about journalism.

I'm just gonna share my opinion about it, you know?

I think they miss the fact that the local journalism is super important here.

It's not about PBS and NPR.

Can you talk a little bit about the importance of local journalism in particular?

- Well, AB absolutely.

I have been in commercial television news spaces.

I've written for a number of different publications and I've got friends I know you do too, across sort of journalistic spaces.

And we feel for them.

I mean, the journalistic spaces that have shrunken, we're not rooting for that.

But I think what has happened in the last, again, 25 years or so, as you've seen newspapers, especially mid-small size papers, they've gone away.

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer had 330 reporters when I was a kid.

They've got around 30 now.

It's really, really remarkable.

And when you see the defunding, that I think ignored the fact that some of the most uncovered communities, uncovered, I mean, they've lost their paper, there may be one station left covering doing the best they can.

Now they're gonna lose their public media.

I mean, it has not been good, I think, for any market, especially smaller markets, and I actually don't think it's that political.

I mean, of course it's political, we're talking about a political decision.

But until this administration, it was really bipartisan.

The support of public media has been bipartisan for a long time.

You've probably talked to lawmakers on all stripes, we've talked to lawmakers on all stripes for years who understand the value of PBS Kids and Cara's team and everything that's happening in places like this.

So this is relatively new, we're adjusting as best we can.

But I think when communities are uncovered locally, they're really, really vulnerable to not understanding why decisions get made.

I think corruption can sprout more in places like that, that's been studied.

So in many ways, local journalism matters more than ever right now, - You know, every day, you know, the topics that you're getting into, you have to dive into a lot of this politics.

And it's no secret, our country is super divided.

Talk to me a little bit about how do you position yourself when you're trying to be balanced, when you know there are people that just don't agree.

They're looking at us and they already come with their own preconception that we're biased, which we're not.

But how do you try to present to them a balanced perspective?

- I think it's such an important question.

And I'll start by saying, we are human beings.

Human beings don't have a perfect conception of truth or I don't have a monopoly on all the ideas.

I mean, I do have my own preconceptions on that, but I also come in from a standpoint of a couple of things that I think guide what we do.

Number one, with a few exceptions, there are not voices that are unwelcome on our platforms.

Voices in this community are welcome on our platforms.

Number two, when people disagree, that is one way to understand each other better as long as we can talk through it together.

I think when we're in online spaces predominantly, I think that has kind of poisoned the way we view our neighbors, sometimes our own family.

When we sit down together in person, you don't have to agree, but rarely do people walk outta the same room in the "Connections" studio saying, "I can't stand the person, I don't ever wanna see them again," or "I think less of them," or, "They're a bad person."

You see that disagreement is natural to the human species, and we can deal with that when we talk about it together.

So I'm curious, that's the third point.

I have to stay curious.

I can never let myself think I've got it all figured out.

So as the host of this program, I will top down, explain what's going on with the world.

I'm just as curious as the audience.

I'm learning with the audience.

I love it at the end of an hour privately when my own mind gets changed and I go, whoa, "I did not think that was gonna turn me, but it did," and that's an invigorating feeling.

We have to kinda reawaken the idea that it's okay to change your mind.

It's okay to learn new things, and we wanna be a platform for that.

- Cool.

I want to dig a little bit more.

About another minute guys.

Like, community voices.

And when I say community voices, like we talked about our RMAPI, like I saw a show the other day with "Teen Empowerment," Like I think, you know, "Connections" has the ability to talk about those everyday issues that are going on in the country, like AI.

But then the next day, you're talking just these bottom-up organizations and people that you wouldn't normally see.

How do you go about finding them?

How do you go about elevate them?

- Well, we have to do better, frankly.

We work really hard at that.

But that's one of the hardest things that we do, is making sure that over the course of a week, 10 hours of show or 500 hours in a year, it's not just your officials at the top.

We used to call it officials and real people, and I feel bad for officials because they're real people too.

But we want the voices of the people who often don't get attention or don't get a chance to be at the table.

So if it's "Teen Empowerment," if it's a student 15 years old with their first job talking about a hard experience, who is listening to them in this community?

We have to.

So how do we find that?

Well, our different platforms, we go about talking about it on the air, on our different platforms, on the socials, on YouTube, and frankly boots on the ground, out talking to people in person to make sure that we're not leaving parts of the community uncovered.

It's a big part of what we do.

- Cool.

Evan, thank you.

One of the things that makes public media different is that it's not just something you consume, it's something you participate in.

So we wanna open things up and really hear from you.

Evan is gonna help moderate the questions we received and he's back in his role and now I'm gonna be back in my role.

Like I said, we're just doing something different.

But I'm gonna turn it over to you and let's sort of moderate the questions.

- You wanna come host "Connections" sometime?

I like that better.

You can do it.

- Oh man.

- All right, so here's what we're gonna do.

We have some pre-submitted questions that came in from our online platforms.

If you're watching on one of our platforms like YouTube, you can still join the chat.

If we don't get to certain things tonight, Chris has a chance to come up and follow up on our platforms.

We're gonna keep engaging with you however you find us and some of our live audience have submitted some of these questions as well.

So we had a number of questions.

I'm gonna condense a little on the first one, a number of questions on the subject of member support.

So you mentioned in the last year, we lose federal funding, and there was a lot of talk about, well how much is that?

What percentage of the budget, how much is actually member support?

Is member support actually that big of a chunk of it?

So people wanted to kind of wanted us to be transparent.

How much does it matter?

How much does member support really kinda make up the pie?

So how important is member support?

- it's key, it's foundational and I would say before the cut member support was actually our largest revenue source.

And I would also say that federal funding was never enough.

You know, I think what's important for everybody to understand that without federal funding, we lost a slice of the pie, which means member support has to grow.

It means that we actually have to work on earned income, which is corporate sponsorship.

It means that we have to work extra harder on getting grants for what we want to do.

And quite frankly, we need to sell more popcorn at The Little.

What's important for you to understand is we are a small business, we're a nonprofit, but it means we have to be innovative in how we store this organization.

I have this personal goal for me that whatever I walked into, whenever I leave, I'm gonna leave it better.

And that means that we're gonna be fiscally sound and we're gonna really grow our revenue so that we can keep serving our community.

- So another question was exactly what the whole of the budget from federally is gonna be this year.

1.9 million is what we've been talking about last year.

Roughly around there this year.

What do we know going forward?

- You know, that's harder to say, right?

Because the way you come up with the number every year before this was based on a formula, based on what you fundraise for.

And when we went into this, 1.9 was based on how we did the year before.

Going forward, we're actually doing a zero-based budget.

And we're assuming there is no ever gonna be federal funding.

And so I can't tell you what the gap is.

What I can tell you is, we need to raise membership money, we need to raise grants.

But from this point going forward, we're not talking gaps.

We're talking, we need to raise this much money to do "Connections" 'cause it's important, we need to raise this much money 'cause we're gonna be doing education, we need to raise this much money because we're spinning up WXXI Studio.

The most important thing that I can say to you all today, the conversation we had last year about the gap, there's always a need.

And membership support, if you wanna support this work, you need to become a member.

If you have a Netflix, and I shouldn't say, well, if you have a subscription someplace for some commercial platform, treat us as one of those platforms.

What's important is we need to make sure that we're being transparent with you.

That's why we're here today.

While we may do this, you know, we pledge a lot on radio, we pledge on TV, and we're gonna keep talking to you about what our need is.

- All right, next question.

It seems like more media content is talking heads, even reporters becoming talking heads who express opinions on events rather than providing new information for listeners.

Do you think that's a fair perception?

And if so, what can listeners do to encourage more research and fact gathering and less just opinion, reflection?

- Keep telling us that's what you want.

I think when we think about those talking heads you see on Instagram and TikTok, it's the algorithm, right?

- [Evan] Absolutely, yeah.

- We're trying to get the news in front of you on your mobile, and sometimes that means that we're emulating what works to get the story in front of you.

If you look at WXXI News, the team, they're going out and doing the reporting.

But Julio and I have been asking folks to really think about how are we reformatting the journalism to get it in front of the people that we're trying to bring into the tent.

What's important is, even if for us, if it's a talking head, it's still fact.

Still fact-based.

It's still being going through an editor.

You know, I would encourage you to stay with WXXI.

Part of the work that Julio and team and you, we're paying attention to how we need to format the work so that we can grow our audiences.

Growing our audiences means we can grow our revenue.

And so we're also paying attention to what's going on right now with AI and how things get presented to audiences.

There's a whole conversation about what gets seen and what doesn't get seen.

And where we have to be really cautious about is our journalism.

It really walks our mission too.

We don't want to put anything out that's not true.

We don't want to contribute to disinformation.

We want to make sure that we're relevant to our whole audiences.

That means audiences that are older that have been with us, but we also want to bring in new audiences who might not normally come to us.

I would say to you, we're in interesting times.

But I hope our most valuable asset is that brand.

When you see WXXI and we're doing journalism, I hope you trust it.

And I know a lot that's going on with the war and whatnot and things that are happening, there's a lot that's happening where people are confused.

I hope when you come here and you see "Connections" every day at 12, we're gonna center some things for you and sometimes we're gonna give you some talking heads, but no, we're gonna fact check the talking head.

- Yeah, I think that's really well said.

All right, this is the next question.

Facing economic headwinds that aren't likely to change soon, has WXXI considered spinning off its ownership of The Little Theater?

- No way.

(both laughs) Look, here's the thing.

I think a lot of people haven't quite understood that WXXI owns The Little Theater, WXXI owns the CITY Magazine.

You know, my predecessors made a decision years ago, many years ago that this organization was gonna be part of WXXI.

I took the job because we have a theater.

It literally is the public expression of public media on East Ave in Rochester, New York.

And we got good popcorn, and every once in a while I get a beer down there.

What's important for me is that this organization, that is The Little Theater, it is now part of Rochester Disney, WXXI, and it's a doorway into everything else that we have to offer.

And so no, we're not selling it.

We're gonna invest in it and we're gonna grow it as we're growing WXXI together.

We're one company.

- Well maybe related to that, 'cause you mentioned the phrase WXXI Studios earlier this hour.

- [Chris] Yeap, that's the thing.

- Okay, so here's a question.

To help the community better connect, what pathways would you recommend for independent media producers and community storytellers who would maybe wanna partner with WXXI to help strengthen community engagement and develop programming in the future?

- Find Julio Saenz.

(Evan chuckles) You know, the investment in hiring Julio and making some strategic moves internally, like there's other folks that are working through Julio, Veronica Volk, Todd McCammon.

We're building something here so that we have doorways in to content creators.

You'll hear me say this in different publications, WXXI, I think is the hub of the creative economy of Rochester.

I know that's a bold statement, and I challenge anybody to come and challenge me on it.

We wanna work with the community to create content.

I can't tell you exactly how we're gonna do that.

Julio and Todd, they're gonna figure that out, and my job is to fund it.

And so we're trying to figure out that path.

But I think what's important is, we want to be fully representative of the community.

We want to create pathways.

Our future isn't one where we're gonna be top down.

Our future is gonna be bottom up.

- So if you don't currently work for WXXI, don't think that foreclosed is the chance for you to work with WXXI?

- Exactly.

- Fair point.

- Exactly.

- Okay, another question.

At least three regions of upstate New York, the capital, central, and southern tier have combined their public media into regional networks to provide greater coverage and variety.

We are sustaining members of your stations and support BTPM.

Given federal cuts, is it time to streamline Western New York into such?

A route to a bridge, perhaps.

- Yeah.

Hmm.

I would say, we work together more than you know.

One example, and maybe you've heard this on air, the New York News Network, New York Public Media News Network, we actually share content between the other stations in the New York system.

We support our journalists in Albany, Samuel King.

Samuel King works for us, but he reports for the whole state.

Now I don't know if we're ever gonna do, what was that, route is ours and-- - [Evan] Yeah, but the bridge must be somewhere else, yeah.

- You know, I would never take it off the table, but I think we all love our brands.

And I think what you have to also remember that, you know, Rochester and Buffalo are two different regions.

It took me a minute to understand that there's something different going on in Buffalo, that something's going on different in Rochester.

I think what I love about WXXI, and a lot of don't know this, but we actually operate stations that we don't own.

So when we talk about WEOS and Ithaca, or I'm sorry, I'm gonna get this wrong, is it Ithaca?

We operate a few other stations, and so a lot of collaboration is already happening.

And while we may never merge, know that because you're a public media station, because we have, I literally meet with the other CEOs in the state like once a month, we're already working together.

Now does that mean we merge?

I don't think we're there yet.

I think the state supports us in a lot of different ways, particularly for our education work.

But what we want to do is partner, and I think that partnering is important because that means we don't perish.

Partnering means we share resources.

Partnering means we find different ways to get the content out to our communities.

Maybe one day might have to lead to a merger, but I don't think we're there yet.

- Well, they're gonna gimme the wrap sign in a second.

If you've submitted questions that we didn't get to, Chris is gonna try to get to 'em on our separate platforms.

And I'm gonna go off script and tell the audience this is a good time to give a round of applause for the CEO, Chris Hastings of WXXI Public Media.

(attendees clapping) - The stage is back yours, boss.

- All right.

There was this movie where people switch, right?

Before we wrap up tonight, I want to come back to something I said in the beginning of this program.

Public media only works when it belongs to the community it serves.

WXXI exists because people here believe in that Rochester should have trusted journalism, education, resources for families, music, arts, that reflect the community and spaces, like The Little, where people can come together and meaningful conversation.

Tonight, you've heard from some of the people who do that work every day.

But the future of WXXI really depends on all of us working together.

Listeners, viewers, educators, artists, journalists, community partners, and my staff.

Together we build the future.

If you are not already a sustaining member and you heard me say this before, that is the best way you can support us.

Please consider joining us today by logging on to wxxi.org/give or give us a call.

Thanks to our team behind the scenes, and thank you.

Have a great evening.

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