Chicago Public Media, Inc.

Chicago Public Media is one of the largest and most respected public media organizations in the country. With an unparalleled reputation for creativity and innovation across all platforms, Chicago Public Media provides substantive news and insights, thoughtful conversation and meaningful connections to its diverse audiences throughout the Chicago area, as well as nationally and globally.

Chicago Public Media engages with its listeners and users across multiple platforms, including broadcast radio, digital streaming, and mobile apps. Its flagship station, WBEZ-Chicago (91.5 FM), delivers a weekly listening audience of over 550,000, and broadcasts throughout Chicago and the surrounding region. WBEZ’s website, wbez.org, is a top-performing website, serving 1.2 million monthly audio streams. WBEZ’s sister service, called Vocalo (90.7 FM, vocalo.org), targets a Millennial, multicultural audience through an urban alternative format that public radio has not traditionally served. Chicago Public Media also produces three programs that are distributed nationally, the award-winning This American Life, Sound Opinions, and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, produced in partnership with NPR.

With a tradition of journalistic excellence and innovation, and financial stability, Chicago Public Media is poised to gain market share in a region where private-sector print and broadcast news competitors are facing significant business challenges. Chicago Public Media is recognized for the breadth and depth of its local reporting, ranging from breaking news coverage to innovative storytelling and enterprise reporting, and through partnerships with NPR, American Public Media and PRX. Throughout the years, the organization has won numerous awards for its journalistic excellence. This year, alone, the organization was awarded the prestigious National Murrow Award for Overall Excellence, a Peabody Award, PRNDI awards, among many others.

With a strong membership base and consistent funding from a diverse group of corporate, philanthropic, individual and institutional sources, Chicago Public Media has a solid financial base from which to grow. Today, Chicago Public Media attracts nearly 70,000 members who support the organization. Membership represents approximately half of CPM’s total revenues and is the single largest source of funding. In 2010 CPM completed a successful $15.6 million capital campaign, and is building its corporate sponsorship and philanthropy capabilities in order to further strengthen and diversify funding sources. The organization employs 120 people, and has an annual operating budget of $24 million.