The broad outlines of a possible way forward for the troubled newsroom at St. Louis Public Radio are starting to become clear, as interim General Manager Tom Livingston takes stock of the organization and engages staff members in a new effort to tackle diversity concerns. Livingston, who took over on Sept. 22, told Gateway Journalism…
St. Louis Public Radio is searching for a new permanent general manager following the ouster of Tim Eby, after he came under pressure from journalists at the station who made public allegations of racism in early August. University of Missouri-St. Louis officials announced a management shakeup in a staff memo on Thursday. Tom Livingston, a…
Dear editor, I urge you to make Terry Ganey’s story from last fall about the Beacon/Public Radio available online. Few people in daily journalism, current or former, have seen it. (The two Post-Dispatch staff members who are quoted in the story aren’t aware of its publication.) Plus, it’s odd not to publish online a story about an online publication. I’d also suggest that you expand on the passage about the Beacon’s, and Public Radio’s, extraordinary interest in chess.
On one wall of the St. Louis Public Radio newsroom hangs an electronic sign resembling a large flat-screen television with colored graphs, charts and numbers telling the story of the station’s website. One recent summer afternoon, a visitor saw that 89 people were checking out the site to see what the news operation had to offer. Tim Eby, director and general manager of St. Louis Public Radio, said more people have visited the station’s website since it merged with the online startup the St. Louis Beacon six months ago. The number of listeners to KWMU, 90.7 FM, has remained about the same. While the news staff was roughly doubled to 21 and the Beacon as a brand disappeared, the combined operation remains a boutique for news consumers. Eby said the station has averaged about 120,000 unique visitors a month.
St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Beacon announced Thursday that they are moving ahead with their previously announced merger plan and that final action by the University of Missouri Board of Curators could come as soon as November.
The merger is thought to be the first of its kind in the nation – combining an NPR affiliate with an online daily news organization.