Alaska Public Media, KTOO & KUCB Team Up to Cover Energy Issues

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CPB Awards $775,000 News Collaboration Grant to Three Alaska Public Media Stations Alaska Public Media, KTOO & KUCB Team Up to Cover Energy Issues

JUNEAU, Alaska (December 17, 2015) — Three Alaska public media services have been awarded a $775,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to start a journalism collaboration focused on statewide energy issues.

Alaska Public Media in Anchorage, KTOO Public Media in Juneau and KUCB in Unalaska will dedicate nine reporters, editors and producers to provide in-depth coverage of energy issues in Alaska. Topics will include resource development, the cost of energy in rural areas, state budget, the Arctic, and federal- state policy issues, among others.

“We have a 40-year history of news collaboration through APRN (Alaska Public Radio Network), and this opportunity will help us build the capacity to take our reporting beyond the headlines to cover stories critical to Alaska’s future,” said Bill Legere, general manager of KTOO, the lead station. “We’re excited about building a team of journalists to take us to the next level of news coverage.”

The reports will appear statewide on APRN, KSKA-FM and KAKM-TV in Anchorage, all operated by Alaska Public Media; 360 North (KTOO-TV), Alaska’s public affairs television channel, and KTOO-FM, operated by KTOO Public Media in Juneau; KUCB-FM; and on other local news programs and public media websites throughout the state. The team of journalists will also produce stories for national public media programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace, PBS NewsHour and Here and Now.

“CPB is pleased to support this journalism partnership among public media stations in Alaska,” said Bruce Theriault, CPB senior vice president of journalism and radio. “By collaborating, these public media stations can cover the news with much greater breadth and depth than they could individually. This collaboration, which includes newsrooms from Southeast, Southcentral and the Aleutian chain, is particularly well-positioned to cover a broad range of important stories and perspectives that will be shared with the rest of the state and nationally.”

The collaboration will expand in the second year to include at least two additional Alaska media partners. The CPB funding also provides for training and community engagement initiatives.
Anchorage-based Alaska Public Media operates APRN, the statewide news network, along with KSKA-FM and KAKM-TV. KTOO in Juneau operates the 360 North statewide public affairs channel and three public radio stations – KTOO, KRNN and KXLL. KUCB operates KUCB radio and TV in the remote community of Unalaska, on the Aleutian chain.


For more information, contact:

  • Bill Legere, 907-463-6406, bill@ktoo.org
  • Tim Olson, 907-463-6472, tim@ktoo.org

About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

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