{"id":9192,"date":"2015-10-21T17:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T22:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=9192"},"modified":"2015-10-21T17:22:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T22:22:36","slug":"wbez-celebrates-25-years-on-its-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/10\/21\/wbez-celebrates-25-years-on-its-own\/","title":{"rendered":"WBEZ celebrates 25 years on its own"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chicago<\/a>

<\/a> Chicago Public Media<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago Public Media<\/a> marked its 25th anniversary as the independent parent company of WBEZ FM 91.5 <\/a>this week with a gala celebration and a smart new mobile app.<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 500 people attended a $500-a-plate fundraising dinner Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Ira Glass, host and executive producer of \u201cThis American Life,\u201d headlined the event, which featured a galaxy of public radio\u2019s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

Goli Sheikholeslami, president and chief executive officer of Chicago Public Media since 2014, said the station\u2019s mission remains more vital and its future appears brighter than ever.<\/p>\n

\"Goli<\/a>

Goli Sheikholeslami<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor 20 years I worked at for-profit media companies that, like everyone else, were struggling to reinvent themselves, to figure out how to survive in the digital age,\u201d she told the gathering. \u201cBut as it turns out, the public radio model is the one that works for journalism. Public radio is uniquely positioned to thrive in this environment because we receive financial support directly from our listeners. And I have never been more excited or more optimistic about working in media than I am right now at WBEZ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheikholeslami credited her predecessors, Carole Nolan and Torey Malatia, with doing \u201csuch a beautiful job\u00a0taking the station independent, building an incredible facility and hiring great journalists for local and national programs. They established WBEZ as a place that huge numbers of Chicagoans turn to for the kind of news that informs, engages and moves people to action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when other news sources are blurring the lines with sponsored content and native advertising, we are more than ever investing in the kind of news reporting that has real impact. While other newsrooms are shrinking, we are expanding. This investment allows us to deliver essential local reporting that strengthens our social fabric.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staking out a leading role for Chicago Public Media in what she called \u201ca revolutionary digital transformation that will redefine radio for the next generation,\u201d Sheikholeslami pointed to the expanded capabilities of the station\u2019s recently launched mobile app.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just stream live programming and give you access to our podcast,\u201d she said. \u201cIt provides a new experience we call the \u2018rePlayer,\u2019 which allows you to control the weekly program schedule. You can access whatever programming you want, when you want to listen to it, on any device.\u00a0So if you want to hear the next \u2018Fresh Air\u2019 at 8 a.m. tomorrow, you can with just a few simple swipes of the screen. Just want to hear the lead news stories at the top of the hour? You can jump to them and listen. You decide \u2014 not us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Established in 1943 by the Chicago Board of Education, WBEZ operated as an educational extension of the Chicago Public Schools for 47 years. It became independent in 1990 when Chicago Public Media acquired the station\u2019s license under the nonprofit WBEZ Alliance.<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WBEZ tied for 17th place overall with a 2.5 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 549,900.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago Public Media marked its 25th anniversary as the independent parent company of WBEZ FM 91.5 this week with a gala celebration and a smart new mobile app. More than 500 people attended a $500-a-plate fundraising dinner Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Ira Glass, host and executive producer of \u201cThis American Life,\u201d headlined... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9192"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9192"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9192\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}