Seven years after New England Public Radio and WGBY merged to become New England Public Media, the nonprofit media landscape is shifting again. Last Friday, the GBH Foundation, which oversees NEPM now, announced that it would formally absorb the 413’s largest public broadcaster.
Against the backdrop of its own challenges and a broader wave of upheaval in Valley media, New England Public Media has named Elizabeth Román as its next executive editor for news. Román will take over the news operations of the region’s principal public media at a time of flux.
After a year that saw tumult and retirements across journalism, the two main players in the public media space in the 413 have undergone some hopeful changes. New England Public Media, the complicated union of UMass-Amherst’s WFCR and the GBH Foundation’s WGBY, has begun a new talk program. Meanwhile, Albany-based WAMC has hired a new reporter to man its bureau in Springfield.
NORTHAMPTON—On a sun-blasted afternoon in July, a mix of celebration and mourning was afoot outside the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s building. Decked out in union red shirts, staffers demonstrated in support of their imminently unemployed colleagues. The paper was closing its press, idling 29 workers, and
BY LINDA MATYS O’CONNELL, ARTS & CULTURE CORRESPONDENT SPRINGFIELD—Flowers are raising their heads outside my window. Last Friday, the city’s artistic community bloomed downtown. I like this eventuality: April showers, then May flowers with promise. The artistic flowering was the Art Stop(s) celebration showcasing Springfield’s
UPDATED 1:05PM 5/1/2017: To add comment from WGBH on hiring former NEPR host Susan Kaplan. New England Public Radio, the National Public Radio affiliate licensed to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has long been a fixture in Pioneer Valley Media. However, it has sought a more prominent
Media remains an essential part of the landscape within which politicians and government officials operate. This is true on almost all levels except, perhaps, very small towns—where it is possible to get to know everybody—and some small cities that behave as such. Springfield is not
This post is the first in a series on the state of media in the 413. The economic crisis throttling media has hardly bypassed the Pioneer Valley. Big papers like The Republican have thinned considerably. Television news continues its drift to sensationalism. Alternative papers struggle,
SPRINGFIELD—It was a made for TV moment: the confetti, the standard mound of dirt, and the construction equipment. With great fanfare, gushing speeches and conveniently clear weather, MGM Springfield had its groundbreaking in the South End with the damaged Zanetti School as a backdrop. The