What's New @ PRNDI

PRNDG Live!

The Public Radio News Directors Guide (PRNDG) is a cooperative effort between PRNDI and NPR's Local News Initiative. Available at www.prndg.org -- this is the first compendium of its kind providing a comprehensive body of advice, best practices and additional resources.

"We hope the PRNDG serves the diverse needs of veterans and new news directors alike," said Michael Marcotte, the guide's author and the former news director of KPBS, San Diego and KPLU, Seattle-Tacoma. Marcotte consulted with more than 80 news directors in compiling the guide. New media journalist Andrew Phelps, now editor of wbur.org, produced the PRNDG Web site.

The guide's launch represents completion of the two-year "start-up phase" in what is envisioned as a multi-stage rollout. The coming phase includes plans to add a front-page blog, more multimedia content and site-based social-networking tools. These will increase the value of the PRNDG as a place for timely discussion of journalism issues while allowing users to add content.

Annual Awards Call for Entries

It's time again to be thinking about what your best work of 2008 is, and preparing it for entry in this year's prestigious PRNDI Awards. This is the only awards dedicated to recognizing the great work done at local public radio stations. You can get all the specifics by visiting our Submit Entries Page.

The PRNDI Awards that recognized great work from calendar year 2007 were were presented at the PRNDI annual conference, held in Washington DC. In addition to presenting 93 awards, PRNDI honored long-time public radio trainer David Candow with the Leo C. Lee Award. A news release about the awards is available by clicking here. A complete list of all of the awards presented is available at the PRNDI Awards Page. Want to see conference pictures? Click here.

The Prez Sez:

PRNDI Board Member Amy Tardif, PRNDI NewsWorks Trainer Mike Marcotte and I were all at the PRPD Conference in Hollywood recently. We shared the news of PRNDI's great new initatives - the regional training sessions, online News Directors Guide, and the Telling The Story Project. We also represented PRNDI member stations in discussions and sessions, and advocated for more local news. We had productive conversations with many PD's, station managers, network representatives and program producers.

Also, we are just a few weeks from the launch of the PRNDG, so keep checking back to the web site for more updates!

Jonathan Ahl, PRNDI President

Upcoming Events

PRNDI 2009 Annual Conference

June 10-13, 2009
Portland, OR

It's never too soon to mark your calendars for next year's conference and start making plans to be there. Note for the first time, the conference is in June instead of July. Keep checking in with the web site for more information.

Member Profile

Joe Barr
Our latest PRNDI profilee is Joe Barr. He is the news director of Capital Public Radio in Sacramento and says his shop has been going through a number of changes. Read More...

News

Telling the Story

Discussion Forum

Check out the new
PRNDI discussion forum.

Southern Regional Training a Success

PRNDI's second regional training was held in Atlanta September 15-16, 2008. The training received excellent feedback from participants and managers alike. Keep an eye on PRNDI.org for information on what's next on the PRNDI training schedule.

Our pilot regional training was at Chicago Public Radio in April 2008. We're seeking host stations in the west and northeast for sessions in 2009.

PRNDI News Director Guide

The Public Radio News Director Guide (PRNDG) is now online. Written by former PRNDI President Michael Marcotte, the PRNDG is a field guide for Public Radio News Directors around the country. It's organized in six chapters and deals with a wide variety of topics facing today's Public Radio newsroom and newsroom manager. The PRNDG is a joint project of PRNDI and NPR's Local News Initiative. It's available at www.prndg.org.

PRNDI is contributing ongoing programmatic and content expertise to The Public Radio Exchange. The current PRX News Curator is former PRNDI Board Member Julianne Welby.

NPR's Local News Initiative

This NPR funded project includes many facets, some of which include involvement and support of PRNDI and its members. All of them have the potential to help PRNDI members improve their product and better serve their audiences. Check out LNI's web site for more information.