In 2015, GPB submitted a grant proposal to the Peyton Anderson Foundation to fund several content initiatives including a series of interstitials highlighting local businesses in Macon and Bibb County, in middle Georgia. The poverty rate for Macon-Bibb County hovers just under 30%, so economic development and community building are a priority for the region, as well as the Foundation.
Since 2016, we have been producing and airing the 1:40 long segments every Monday in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. They also have a dedicated section on the web and are shareable via social media posts.
WMUM had just three full-time employees for most of 2016 (now just two) and this series is produced exclusively by one of those employees, in addition to her regular duties as Station Manager and Outreach Coordinator. Because it is not labor or resource intensive this project is easily replicable by smaller and medium-sized stations and definitely lend a Sense of Place to what is otherwise a very “network” sounding station (WMUM is part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting, an 18 station network with hosts not based in Macon).