Assistant Director of the Center for Community Voices
WYSO Public Radio
Yellow Springs
,
OH
Application Deadline: Sunday, Jul 31, 2022
Description
Overview
WYSO Public Radio is the NPR affiliate for a 14-county region in southwest Ohio, including Dayton and Springfield, with a potential audience of more than two million. We are on a dynamic path of growth and change, having recently transitioned from university to community ownership. On the air since 1958, we’re a funky, hybrid format, with independent news and music.
Under the visionary leadership of public radio veteran Neenah Ellis, who served as general manager from 2009 to 2019 and is currently the Executive Director of our training center, the “Eichelberger Center for Community Voices,” WYSO exemplifies community engagement. We make radio not only for but also with our community: our professional staff collaborates with community members to make over 40 hours of local content every week. Current general manager Luke Dennis, who graduated from the station’s first “Community Voices” training in 2011, carries the mantle of this commitment to the community that was passed on from Ellis.
This is the context in which we seek an Assistant Director for the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices to join our team.
The Assistant Director will be a visionary journalist and producer who is a skilled, sensitive manager working closely with Neenah Ellis and the Center staff, which currently includes Jocelyn Robinson serving as the Producer for Emerging Initiatives, Education, and Archives as well as Basim Blunt serving as the Senior Media Producer and Instructor for the Dayton Youth Radio Project. The Assistant Director will be trained and mentored to eventually lead the Center as the Executive Director.
With a growing organization that’s firing on all cylinders, a new satellite studio set to open in downtown Dayton, and an upcoming move to state-of-the-art expanded headquarters in Yellow Springs through a business partnership with local resident Dave Chappelle, this is an exciting time to join our team.
Responsibilities
- Learn the overall function and role of the Center within WYSO and the community.
- Assist the ED and take over supervision of community producer projects as assigned.
- Provide field production assistance to staff and community producers.
- Act as editor/producer, as assigned, for both individual stories and series.
- Represent the Center at WYSO programming committee meetings.
- Launch and oversee podcast production for the Center.
- Oversee Center web presence.
- Become a public presence for the Center, represent the Center at events.
- Run the training division of Community Voices, gauging the need for courses, planning the classes, lining up instructors and teaching classes.
- Create on-air promos for the Center.
- Join Center staff on-air during fund drives.
- Learn to prepare monthly and quarterly Center activity summaries for MVPM Board and Community Advisory Board.
- Join Center staff in strategic planning.
- Assist in grant-writing and fundraising.
- Writing contracts/MOUs for producer-based projects.
- Coordinate Center projects with WYSO News and Music departments.
- Assume financial oversight of Center projects.
- Write contracts for community producer projects.
- Represent the Center at national conferences.
- Seek/recommend professional development for staff.
- Assume newsletter responsibilities for the Center.
- Initiate community-based projects, assume overall responsibility for annual planning.
- Meet with donors/funders as needed.
Required Qualifications
- A four-year degree in journalism or equivalent field of study.
- Minimum of ten years of full-time professional experience in journalism with increasing responsibilities — preferably in a multiplatform news environment.
- Minimum five years professional experience managing people.
- Passionate about community engagement.
- Ability to produce and edit quality audio programming.
- Deep knowledge of public media news programming ethics, standards, and values.
- Passion for public radio and our public service mission.
- Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with strong interpersonal skills.
- Understand and uphold the highest standards of accuracy, fairness, and ethics in reporting and producing.
- Be a fast, clear, and capable writer who is familiar with AP style.
- Knowledge of on-air and online techniques/procedures, protocols, and standards.
- Experience in broadcast production, web content, news writing, and editing.
- Detail-oriented, able to meet daily deadlines under potentially stressful conditions and deal effectively with multiple competing tasks.
- Ability to supervise and develop employees, including organizing, prioritizing, and scheduling work assignments.
Salary and Benefits
Salary will be commensurate with experience.
Benefits include health/dental/vision insurance; paid holidays, paid vacation, and paid sick leave; 401(k) company match; HSA with annual company grant; gym membership/wellness stipend; and cell phone stipend. This is an exempt position.
About WYSO
WYSO enjoys strong support from listeners and local businesses. Over 80,000 listeners tune in every week, and thousands more regularly interact with our website. Contributed revenues have doubled in the last ten years. We have 21 full-time staff, numerous paid interns, dozens of volunteer producers and hosts…and these numbers will continue to grow.
WYSO is an Equal Opportunity Employer with diversity as one of our core values. We want our staff to reflect the community we serve. As such, people from all backgrounds, communities, races, religions, and expressed genders are encouraged to apply. Our website has more about our Mission, Vision, Values and our intentional steps toward diversity, equity and inclusion.
About The Gem City
Dayton, Ohio (“The Gem City”), where once upon a time two brothers who ran a bicycle shop dreamed up powered flight, continues to be a place where good ideas grow into reality. It’s a city busy reinventing itself. This twin sense of possibility and reinvention makes it a great place to live, in our opinion. WYSO is a beloved and respected member of this community because we amplify the voices of the people, organizations, and musicians that call Dayton home. Although we’re proud to share national and international stories from NPR, the BBC and others, it’s the creation of local content that drives everything we do.
Please submit a cover letter, which includes salary requirements, and resume (including contact information for three references familiar with your work as a manager) to the Director of Finance and Administration at aboulet@wyso.org. Review of applications will begin immediately.