In Brief

WNCU 90.7 FM, a public radio station anchored at North Carolina Central University, is launching a program to train a diverse, inclusive, and underrepresented group of student reporters.

Summary

WNCU 90.7 FM serves partly as a hub to educate and train young journalists at North Carolina Central University, which includes mentoring and professional networking. The Advancement of Emerging Young, Diverse News Journalists project will train students via WNCU public radio and the student newspaper, The Campus Echo, during fall 2018 and spring 2019. Through this project, WNCU also aims to better serve its community by curating and sharing news stories from the perspective of this diverse group. The project will be led by WNCU’s experienced professionals, including general manager Lackisha Freeman and news and public affairs director Kimberley Pierce Cartwright.

Since its founding in 1995, WNCU has focused on education for listeners and students alike. Its main goal is to locally produce music, news, and public affairs programs that are culturally enriching, diverse, intelligent, interactive and thought-provoking. All final productions from this project will be aired on WNCU and the podcast will be shared via www.wncu.org. The launch of this collaborative project will give an often-underserved group of students the chance to create authentic stories and develop key professional skills for their careers.

In Their Own Words

“My team and I are thankful for this pivotal funding that will allow us to advance the diversity in journalism in NC. This funding will support practical training for a young, emerging cohort of NC Central University mass communication students who will use news gathering and reporting skills to produce content to tell local news stories that impact our community. Their audio projects will be shared on-air on WNCU-FM and the podcasts will be available on our website at wncu.org.”  

Lackisha Freeman, General Manager

How to Connect

Learn more about WNCU 90.7 FM via its website. You can also find it on Facebook, and Twitter.

Total Commitment

2018: $50,000 for one year

Learn More

Dive deeper by learning about the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund and discovering our other grantees.