WHYY Community Report

Imagine This Day At WHYY

It’s 9:00 a.m. on a weekday morning at WHYY. Jennifer Lynn has already been on the air for several hours, weaving together national and local news reports. In the newsroom, reporters gather for the morning meeting to decide what stories to pursue. WHYY-TV and WHYY Kids programs are helping young viewers learn their ABCs and 1-2-3’s. The Connection with host, Marty Moss-Coane producers are making calls to find the best guests to help people in our community and around the world connect with each other on common issues and solutions. On Stage At Curtis, Movers & Makers and You Oughta Know producers and photographers gather the tools of their craft to shoot performances, b-roll and interviews for upcoming episodes. Behind the scenes, dozens of WHYY staffers are doing the important support work that makes possible all of our content production.

There is a common thread that runs through all this activity:

The news we cover, the arts programs we produce, the events we hold all exist to inform and engage an audience that stretches not only through a three-state region but, in fact, around the globe. It is also thanks to YOU that this service is possible. More than half of WHYY’s operating funds come from your generous donations.

Here Is A Brief Look At The Scope Of WHYY’s Services And How We Invest Your Support

WHYY is the region’s leading public media provider and NPR/PBS member station serving the nation’s fourth largest media market. We broadcast national favorites in addition to presenting locally produced radio and television programs. WHYY.org is the home for news and civic dialogue.

  • WHYY-FM produces Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Pulse, The Connection, Studio 2 and a growing list of podcasts including Half Vaxxed, Schooled, The Statue, AI Nation, and more.
  • WHYY-TV, which operates three digital channels, produces Movers & Makers, Check, Please! Philly, Delishtory, Young Creator’s Studio, You Oughta Know, On Stage at Curtis and Flicks.
  • WHYY.org is home to WHYY News and features participatory content and a network of content partners.
  • WHYY is home to Billy Penn, bringing readers the perfect balance of important and lighthearted news about Philadelphia. It has a strong news-based social media presence, a popular morning newsletter and is known for its local events.
  • WHYY is the home of PlanPhilly, Philadelphia’s planning, design and development news platform.
  • With WHYY’s podcasts, you can take your favorite programs with you — on the train, in the car, on the bus, while jogging, biking or anywhere your portable media device can go.
  • Hundreds of local and national programs are available to stream at WHYY.org/video and through WHYY’s Passport portal.
  • The percentage of WHYY’s budget invested in programming has grown from 69% to 74% in the last 12 years.
  • Additional suburban reporters expand news coverage in Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties.
  • WHYY’s New Jersey desk adds perspective from the Garden State.

WHYY engages citizens as full partners in the conception and execution of content and advances civic life through storytelling, arts, education and civic dialogue. We connect to thousands in the community through a variety of events centered around discussions on public policy, advancing communities and solving social problems.

WHYY has always had a strong connection to Delaware. As the only source of multi-media news and information coverage in the State of Delaware, WHYY continues to use television, digital, radio, and social media to educate, inspire and entertain audiences in this region. WHYY’s location in Wilmington is highly visible, integrating us even more into the surrounding community and allowing WHYY news coverage to be more flexible and take advantage of new technology to present information. With timely news coverage of topics such as the how to address higher rates of diabetes for Black residents; the increases of women in the Delaware General Assembly and Delaware’s new hotline to report abuse and neglect of seniors and vulnerable adults, WHYY is dedicated to providing multimedia, often solution-oriented news and specials for the state.

WHYY takes pride in its educational program offerings. These past few school years have been different. Caregivers, teachers, administrators and children faced new challenges, questions and opportunities. Our goal here at WHYY is to help navigate unprecedented times. WHYY helped increase student engagement this year by providing digital media production learning opportunities to thousands of students throughout the region. Additionally, thanks to grants from the Barnes Foundation and PNC, WHYY began installing Little Libraries at sites throughout the area stocked with PBS Kids books, activity sheets and resource materials families can keep. WHYY also conducts engagements with kids and families at various sites. And as schools continued to struggle with issues around the pandemic, WHYY expanded its PBS LearningMedia web offerings with a suite of resources to spark genuine excitement and drive learning both in- and outside of the classroom serving as a bridge to learning opportunities.

We offer PBS Kids programming on WHYY-TV and 24-hours a day on YKids. PBS Kids programming is the safest on-air destination for children and the top provider of content that helps children learn reading, math and essential skills, according to a national survey. Through additional partners and funder support, WHYY brings media arts and important STEM academic skills to students across the Delaware Valley. Taking WHYY’s educational contributions even further, we spent this year recording and producing two new kids shows, Albie’s Elevator and The Infinite Art Hunt, which will air on WHYY-TV12 in Summer 2023.

Through WHYY production classes, after-school programs and summer camps, students learn how to tell stories, produce multimedia content and become discerning viewers of media. Other programs, such as the Journalists Summer Camp, provide students with an engaging way to continue to learn about storytelling, even once the school year has ended. WHYY has trained more than 20,000 students in video and audio production in the last 20 years. WHYY brought the number of Media Labs partnerships with Philadelphia schools to more than 50 with the addition of several locations.

WHYY brought the number of Media Labs partnerships with Philadelphia schools to more than 50 with the addition of several locations.

WHYY continues to help increase student engagement with the widely successful Media Labs program, now in more than 50 schools. WHYY recently brought its renowned educational programming to the Camden City School District (CCSD) with the opening of New Jersey’s first, fully equipped and staffed WHYY Media Lab, housed at the Big Picture Learning Academy on the campus of Camden High School. WHYY’s education department also provides an online tool kit to help stations across the county implement these trainings into their work.

WHYY provided numerous opportunities to engage members of the community in the Philadelphia region with two of WHYY’s most influential and popular radio hosts, Marty Moss-Coane and Terry Gross. Both took time to interact and explore the surrounding community through supplemental programs. Moss-Coane talked with Frances Moore Lappé about her book, Diet for a Small Planet while Terry Gross led a live interview with coach, legendary athlete and Lifelong Learning Award winner Dawn Staley about her work and life in public eye.

All That We Offer Would Not Be Possible Without Support From Our Community. Thank You!

WHYY By The Numbers


448,000 television viewers per week

469,000 radio listeners per week

1.25M unique monthly users on WHYY.org

WHYY provided instruction in multimedia production to more than 4500 students, teachers and community members

 

WHYY Education: Pathway to Careers

 

Offered 50+ community events per year

WHYY has increased the percent of our budget invested in programming, from 69% to 74% over the last 14 years.

WHYY has grown assets each year from the low point of the recession while contributed revenue has steadily increased.

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Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal