Collaboration is Key as Public Radio Sweeps Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

CPB-supported public media organizations won 302 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards,  announced May 6 by the Radio Television Digital News Association. The awards recognize the best journalism produced by radio, television, and online news organizations in the United States and abroad.

Public radio claimed 277 awards – 80% of the 343 awards in the U.S. radio categories. South Dakota Public Broadcasting led all winners with 9 Regional Murrow awards, including reports on different aspects of the pandemic. Marfa Public Radio (Texas) and Colorado Public Radio each won 8 awards, while WNIN-FM, (Evansville, Ind.); WPLN (Nashville) and Radio IQ/WVTF (Roanoke, Va.) each won 7. Arizona Public Media (Tucson) won 6, including five in television categories.

“These awards affirm the quality and the importance of the work that public media’s local journalists do every day,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB’s senior vice president of journalism, radio, and community service grant services. “CPB is proud to support the commitment to local journalism displayed by public media stations across the country. Their coverage is vital to their communities.” 

Notably, 24 of public media’s Regional Murrows were won by public media stations collaborating with other public media stations, local newspapers, or other organizations -- for example, Listen MKE, a collaboration among WUWM, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee PBS and Milwaukee Public Library, and the podcast A New York Minute in History, produced by WAMC, the New York State Museum and Archivist Media. KUNR (Reno, Nevada) won an award for its bilingual coverage of the pandemic in partnership with Noticiero Móvil and This Is Reno. WBUR in Boston won for election guide coverage with El Planeta, Boston’s Latino daily.   

In Texas, home of the Texas Newsroom collaboration and “Texas Standard,” a statewide daily news show, the public radio stations and collaborations won 24 out of the 26 radio awards in the region, on subjects ranging from raising chickens during the pandemic to asylum seekers waiting in Mexico to the diversity of Latino voters.  

“CPB has been funding journalism collaborations and encouraging collaboration for more than a decade, and we’ve laid the foundation to build a true public media network of journalists who will serve local, regional, and national audiences for years to come, to keep our citizens informed, and our democracy strong,” Merritt said.

Regional Murrow Award winning public media stations are listed below. Regional winners are automatically finalists for National Murrow Awards, which will be announced this summer.

Region 1

Small Market Radio

• KLCC, Eugene, Oregon, 5
• Boise State Public Radio, Idaho, 5
• KYUK Public Media, Bethel, Alaska, 3
• Jefferson Public Radio, Medford, Oregon, 1
• Alaska Public Media, Anchorage, 1

Large Market Radio

• KNKX, Seattle, 5
• Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland, 4
• KUOW, Seattle, 3
• Northwest News Network, Seattle, 1

Region 2

Small Market Radio

• KVPR, Fresno, California, 3
• KUNR Public Radio, Reno, Nevada, 3, including 1 with Noticiero Móvil and This Is Reno
• Hawai’i Public Radio, Honolulu, 3
• KAZU, Monterey Bay Area, California, 2

Large Market Television

• KCET, 3, including 1 with KQED and the Orange County Register

Large Market Radio

• KQED, San Francisco, 5
• Southern California Public Radio/LAist, 2
• CapRadio, Sacramento, 1
• Mountain West News Bureau, 1

Region 3

Small Market Television

• Arizona Public Media, Tucson, 5

Small Market Radio

• Wyoming Public Media, Laramie, 3
• KUNC, Greeley, Colorado, 3
• Arizona Public Media, Tucson, 1
• KOTO, Telluride, Colorado, 1

Large Market Television

• Rocky Mountain PBS, 1

Large Market Radio

• Colorado Public Radio, Denver, 8
• KJZZ News, Phoenix, 3

Region 4

Small Market Television

• PBS Wisconsin, Madison, 2

Small Market Radio

• South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Sioux Falls, 9

Large Market Radio

• WUWM, Milwaukee, 4, including 1 with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee PBS, and Milwaukee Public Library
• Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee, 4, including 1 with Wisconsin Watch
• MPR News, Minneapolis, 1

Small Market Television

• NET, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1

Small Market Radio

• KBIA, Columbia, Missouri, 5
• NET, Lincoln, 5
• Siouxland Public Media KWIT-KOJI, Sioux City, Iowa, 2

Large Market Radio

• KCUR 89.3, Kansas City, Missouri, 5
• St. Louis Public Radio, Missouri, 4, including 1 with Kaiser Health News
• Iowa Public Radio, Des Moines, 1

Region 6

Small Market Radio

• Marfa Public Radio, Texas, 8
• KTEP Public Radio, El Paso, Texas, 1

Large Market Radio

• KERA, Dallas, 6
• KUT, Austin, 4
• Texas Standard, 2
• Houston Public Media, 1
• Texas Public Radio and The Texas Newsroom, San Antonio, 1

Region 7

Small Market Television

• WFIU/WTIU News, Bloomington, Indiana, 1

Small Market Radio

• WNIN-FM, Evansville, Indiana, 7
• WILL/Illinois Public Media, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, 3, including 1 with Harvest Public Media 
• WKSU-FM, Akron, Ohio, 2
• WFIU/WTIU News, Bloomington, 1
• WCMU Public Media, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1
• WMUK, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1

Large Market Radio

• Michigan Radio, Ann Arbor, 4
• Chicago Public Media/WBEZ, Illinois, 3 including 1 with City Bureau
• WDET, Detroit, Michigan, 3 including 1 with Documenting Detroit
• ideastream, Cleveland, 1
• Indiana Public Broadcasting News, Indianapolis, 1
• WFYI - Side Effects, Indianapolis, 1

Region 8

Small Market Radio

• West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Charleston, 5, including 1 with the Ohio Valley ReSource 
• WFPL News, Louisville, Kentucky, 4
• WKMS, Murray, Kentucky, 1
• WUKY, Lexington, Kentucky, 1

Large Market Radio

• WPLN News, Nashville, 7
• North Carolina Public Radio WUNC, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, 6
• WFDD, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1
• South Carolina Public Radio, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1

Region 9

Small Market Radio

• WBHM, Birmingham, 4
• Alabama Public Radio, Tuscaloosa, 4

Large Market Radio

• Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Jackson, Mississippi, 3
• WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and WRKF Baton Rouge Public Radio, 2

Region 10

Small Market Radio

• New Hampshire Public Radio, Concord, 4
• Vermont Public Radio, Colchester, 3
• Maine Public Radio, Portland, 2
• WCAI, Cape Cod and the Islands, Massachusetts, 2
• New England Public Media, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1

Large Market Television

• GBH, Boston, 1

Large Market Radio

• WGBH, Boston, 5, including one for the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting
• The Public's Radio, Providence, Rhode Island, 3
• WBUR, Boston, 6, including 1 with El Planeta and 1 for On Point 
• CT Public, Hartford, Connecticut, 1

Region 11

Small Market Radio

• WITF, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 5
• North Country Public Radio, Canton, New York, 2
• WXXI Public Broadcasting, Rochester, New York, 2
• WAMC Northeast Public Radio, New York State Museum and Archivist Media, Albany. New York, 2

Large Market Radio

• WHYY, Philadelphia, 3
• WESA, Pittsburgh, 2
• WNYC Radio and YR Media, New York City, 1

Region 12

Small Market Radio

• Radio IQ/WVTF, Roanoke, Virginia, 7, including 1 with VPM
• VPM, Richmond, Virginia, 5, including 1 with Radio IQ/WVTF (above)

Large Market Radio

• WAMU/DCist, Washington, DC, 4
• WYPR 88.1 FM, Baltimore, Maryland, 2
• WEAA, Baltimore, 1

Region 13

Small Market Television

• WUFT, Gainesville, Florida, 2

Small Market Radio

• WUFT News, Gainesville, 5
• WFSU Public Media, Tallahassee, Florida, 4
• WGCU News, Fort Myers, Florida, 2, including 1 with Naples Daily News and Fort Myers News Press

Large Market Radio

• WLRN News, Miami, 4
• WABE News- Public Broadcasting Atlanta, 4
• Georgia Public Broadcasting, Atlanta, 2, including 1 with The Bitter Southerner
• WUSF Public Media, Tampa, Florida, 2

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