Media & Public Radio

(05/09/12) All sorts of radio stations these days are busy blending old content with modern technology. Staying relevant, while reaching out to new listeners.

Take CJHR, a non-profit station in Renfrew, Ontario. "Valley Heritage Radio" serves up an eclectic mix for a mostly-rural audience. The format is at least half Canadian content, and about 20% of that is local. The station saves space for something called Ottawa Valley music, a country style influenced by Celtic and French roots, refined in lumber camps that once spanned the region.

Lucy Martin dropped by the CJHR booth at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in March to hear how they're making community radio happen. more

(04/10/12) An era in north country and national journalism came to a quiet close at the end of March. The Watertown Daily Times closed its Washington, D.C. bureau, laying off the last of its capitol beat reporters, part of a tradition that stretches back more than 60 years.

The closure is part of a steep decline in regional newspapers providing their own eyes and ears on the ground in Washington, looking out for their readers' and their regions' interests as federal policy is made. Joanna Richards has more. more

(03/12/12) Search engines and social media have put a whole new spin on managing your good name. An entire industry has developed in the quest to control what people find when they punch your name into Google.

The Innovation Trail's Ryan Delaney reports that a Syracuse-based firm is hoping to flip that industry on its head, and investors have noticed. more

(02/27/12) A new film called "The Amish" premieres tomorrow night on the PBS program American Experience. There's an advance showing tonight at SUNY Potsdam.

For many people watching the program, the Amish will seem very mysterious and far-removed from their everyday lives.

But in big parts of the North Country, the Amish are part of everyday life, we shop alongside them, do business with them, and share the roads with their horse-drawn buggies. more

(02/21/12) Two of the most visible media outlets in the Adirondacks are joining forces. The Adirondack Explorer magazine and the Adirondack Almanack on-line blog have formed a partnership to share staff and content.

The Explorer, formed in 1998, covers environmental issues and outdoor recreation. The Almanack has existed since 2005, emerging as one of the most widely read on-line journals in the North Country.

Almanack founder John Warren said in a statement that the two organizations have "similar missions" and will be able to "collaborate in a unique way at a time when local media is changing dramatically."

The two organizations say they will be releasing new mobile phone apps, as well as redesigned websites.

(01/26/12) Earlier this week, Tom Curley announced his retirement after nine years as president and CEO of the Associated Press. The 63 year-old Curley spent his tenure working to transform the news cooperative for the digital era. Now that he's retiring, Curley said he plans to spend more time in the Adirondacks, where he owns a home on Upper Saranac Lake with his wife, Marsha Stanley. Chris Knight intereviewed Curley this week about the changing times faced by newspapers and what he sees as the biggest issues facing the Adirondacks. more

(01/11/12) Todd Moe talks with Lake Placid artist Nip Rogers about his "Portraits of Other Artists" project and how social networking websites are bringing artists and art together. His Social Faceworking Show opens at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Friday night. It includes portraits of 19 North Country artists and their own artwork in one show.

(09/23/11) Following recent criticism, Governor Cuomo has launched a new website aimed at making his administration more transparent to the public.

The site lists events from his public schedule since taking office in January, and will feature on-line chats with top state officials, including the Governor himself, this coming Saturday. In Albany, Karen DeWitt has the story: more

(07/29/11) At North Country Public Radio's annual meeting last night in Old Forge, the Adirondack Community Trust announced a partnership with NCPR to help create the next generation of public media professionals. ACT and NCPR will share a $300,000 challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to invest in the future of NCPR's ability to expand regional broadcast and digital news and information services. Martha Foley talks with NCPR Station Manager Ellen Rocco and ACT Executive Director Cali Brooks about the grant announcement.

(06/24/11) As part of the annual Fringe Theater and Arts Festival in Ottawa this week, NCPR's theater critic Connie Meng was part of a panel exploring how the media reviews theater. Todd Moe spoke with Connie about some of the questions posed to members of the panel which included broadcast, print and web journalists.