Dragging public media out of the dark ages

Picture this: you move to Alaska with your best friend and the both of you get hired at the statewide PBS/NPR station. Your friend gets tasked with uprooting the whole pledge fundraising model, and you get to lead the digital transformation.

That's exactly what we did. They called us the digital wizards.

We were fresh out of college and were handed the keys to public media.

The station had a statewide radio news network, a statewide PBS TV broadcast, a local public radio signal, and some basic Wordpress pages for each of the call signs. At the same time, Alaska news was thriving, social media was taking off, and YouTube was on the horizon. We needed to catch up fast.

One site to rule them all

We built a custom WordPress powerhouse that brought everything under one roof. For 2011, this thing was epic. We're talking:

• An open publishing platform for news journalists, radio and TV producers, and community bloggers.
• Local news with audio streams, national and global news from NPR and BBC.
• TV programming highlights and schedule.
• Radio live feed and schedule.
• A community event calendar.
• A photo feed from station events.
• Website takeovers during pledge drives.
• Sponsor banners and messaging.
• Simple donation form for new and renewing members.

The beginning of a digital renaissance

It turns out this website was only the beginning of a renaissance for the station. It set off a firestorm that revitalized the station's digital presence and connection with the community.

Before we knew it, we had an Emmy-winning YouTube series, and I was traveling the country teaching other PBS stations how to do digital right. But that's a story for another time...