FISCAL YEAR-END ROUNDUP July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017 We envision a strong and healthy community working together through public media. We believe in the power of public television to bring St. Louis together. We believe that, when we succeed, we ignite the spirit of possibility in St. Louis. This is the mission that drives all of our work.
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Community-Supported Public Television The Nine Network’s most recent fiscal year was marked by remarkable demonstrations of support from those who value our work in the community. We saw a steady rise in many key audience indicators. Those include four consecutive quarters of growth for total viewers of local programming, prime-time viewers and online video views.
28%
Percentage of members who have become sustainers to show their ongoing support.
40%
Percentage of eligible members who have activated their Passport account for streaming.
Membership rose steadily over the course of the fiscal year as many of our members and friends chose to show their support through increased financial contributions.
“Nine is a vital educational, cultural and entertainment resource for all of us in the St. Louis region.” — Community volunteer and Nine Network board member Kim Olson
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Doubling Down on Early Childhood Education This past fiscal year was an important commitment to quality, educational children’s programming. Lesli Rotenberg from PBS joined us to celebrate the launch of our new, 24-hour and live-streaming kid’s channel, Nine PBS KIDS. We also celebrated the launch of a brand new show, Splash & Bubbles, which teaches young people concepts from oceanography and marine biology. American Graduate and Ready to Learn grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting help to make our work in early childhood education possible. That includes much-anticipated events like Storytime in the Commons, which is quickly becoming a St. Louis summertime staple. American Graduate was made possible locally by the following: The James S. McDonnell Family Foundation, The Dana Brown Charitable Trust, The Norman J. Stupp Foundation, The Boeing Company, The Mildred, Herbert and Julian Simon Foundation, The Union Pacific Foundation
Nine’s commitment to early childhood education at a glance:
number of hours of curriculum-based, 32.5 The scientifically proven educational content
aired by the Nine Network each day across two broadcast channels and streamed online.
77% percentage of parents who agree PBS 88% The KIDS is a trusted and safe place for The percentage of children aged 2-7 who watch PBS KIDS programming.
children to watch television.
146,200 2,600 3
The number of PBSKids.org users across Missouri, a higher-than-average usage when compared to the national system. The number of K-12 Missouri educators who make use of PBS LearningMedia resources in the classroom.
Helping to Make Politics Participatory As a public media organization, strengthening civic life is one of our core commitments. There were plenty of opportunities to do just that over the past year. Major national and municipal elections provided the Nine Network opportunities to open up our meeting spaces and use our broadcast resources to increase exposure to these civic opportunities. We hosted three debate viewing parties for the 2017 presidential election and were the official television broadcast partner for the St. Louis Mayoral Forum.
Between 61 and 70 percent of viewers believed local content and services aligned with community priorities over the course of the year.
The Culture of Public Media Our viewers know they can flip on Nine Create for 24 hours of lifestyle programming that inspires them to eat well, live beautifully and celebrate culture. And over the past year, the Nine Network has also brought celebrations of culture from television and into the community. Jack Bishop and Julia Collin Davison paid our studio a visit to show us some “kitchen hacks,� and Taste & See with partner FEAST TV had back-to-back sold-out summers. Because no tribute to dining culture in St. Louis would be complete without a cold brew, the Nine Network gathered teams of beer enthusiasts competing to come up with our second-ever craft beer. The winner, a crisp, light and refreshing cucumber hibiscus gose (gohz-uh) called On Cue, was released in August.
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A Year to Remember for Nine Network Local Programming and Productions Gentlemen of Vision, produced by the Nine Network and filmmaker Frank Popper, continued to draw praise from audiences and critics alike. It generated nearly 2.5 million impressions over the fiscal year. It was screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival and the highly prestigious AFI DOCS festival in our nation’s capital. The film came out of the Nine Network’s What’s Vital 2 STL initiative, an effort to address issues such as equality, race and the justice system in the St. Louis region, and American Graduate, with the goal to improve outcomes for all youth in the region. What’s Vital 2 STL was made possible by Emerson, Express Scripts and the Missouri Humanities Council, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Two new films from the Nine Network also premiered in this fiscal year. Wish You Were Here: A Century of Missouri State Parks celebrated the centennial of one of the nation’s most celebrated state parks system. Outdoor industry leaders from Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Missouri State Parks joined Nine in the Public Media Commons for a premiere screening and a panel conversation. Next, A Place Worth Saving: The Story of the Central West End committed to history the amazing story of the restoration of a one-time neighborhood gem to its former glory. Told by the living heroes and visionaries behind its rebirth, the Central West End project was far more than just a broadcast documentary. While uncovering its history, the Nine Network catalogued more than 10 hours of content from nearly 350 interview segments and organized them into chapters available free online to all. The result is the most comprehensive oral history of the Central West End neighborhood in existence. Wish You Were Here and A Place Worth Saving were made possible through support from Dr. William H. Danforth, Dan and Connie Burkhardt, and Constance and John McPheeters
Feast TV also continues to draw consistently high ratings, proving St. Louis’ appetite for good food extends beyond the plate and onto the screen. Finally, we remain immensely proud of our partnership with the St. Louis Symphony and our ability to bring monthly world-class performances to those who may otherwise be unable to attend in person. Night at the Symphony continues to be the source of some of our most gracious comments from our viewers.
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“At a time when everyone is shouting at each other, the panelists on Donnybrook talk. And while cable news pundits today are all sleeker and blonder than porn stars, the panelists on Donnybrook are reporters, writers, editors, radio people. Their ink stains show; so do their idiosyncratic ways of looking at the world. They haven’t been cast to fill demographic niches; they’ve been cast because they’re news junkies and think about things in interesting ways.” — Sarah Fenske, “30 Years Old This Week, Donnybrook Remains TV Worth Watching,” The Riverfront Times