Inside OPB
FROM OUR PRESIDENT:
Since I arrived in Portland six years ago, we've witnessed so many changes in journalism, in technology, in our economy. And over the past year, OPB has been living through a full-scale assault on the federal funding that is critically important to maintain the programs you value and our ability to serve Oregon's remote and rural communities where the cost of operation exceeds the potential to raise funds to fully support the service.
OPB continues to lean in to these challenges in order to provide the broadest and most trusted service to all of the people we serve — to bring exceptional programs to the 1.5 million people each week who listen and watch OPB — and also to deliver engaging content to the thousands who also access OPB through the Internet, through mobile devices and tablets, and through social media like Facebook and Twitter.
This is our driving force — to provide more people with better access to better information. From expanded coverage of environmental issues to a renewed emphasis on our region's innovative cultural life, people tell us again and again that OPB has become one of their most important primary sources of news, information and engagement with our community.
Recently, I had the pleasure of expanding on these ideas in a presentation to the Portland City Club. I invite you to listen to the full speech below.
OPB is very fortunate to have the benefit of serving an area known nationally as "public broadcasting nirvana." It's a place where people are unusually interested in the world around them, understand OPB's public service mission, and are willing to support it and to protect its independence.
Thank you for the important part you play in helping OPB serve our communities so well.
Listen:
Making News: Why Public Broadcasting Matters
Steve Bass at City Club of Portland
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Steven M. Bass
President and CEO
Our Mission
Oregon Public Broadcasting: giving voice to the community, connecting Oregon and its neighbors, illuminating a wider world.
OPB Management
- Steve Bass
- President & CEO —
- Dan Metziga
- Senior VP, Development —
- Lynne Clendenin
- VP, Programming —
- Dave Davis
- VP, TV Production —
- Mary Gardner
- Director, TV Programming —
- Jan Heskiss
- Chief Financial Officer —
- Morgan Holm
- VP, News and Public Affairs —
- Don McKay
- VP, Engineering —
- Rebecca Morris
- VP, Legal Affairs — legal@opb.org
- Lynne Pollard
- VP, New Media —
- Debbie Rotich
- VP, HR and Administration —
OPB Board of Directors
- Chair
- Elizabeth Schwartz
- Vice Chair
- Keith Mobley
- Secretary/Treasurer
- Jim Huston
- Board Members
- Julie Strasser Dixon
- Bobbie Foster
- Andrew Franklin
- Leda Garside
- Avel Gordly
- Tinker Hatfield
- Michael Hay
- Dian Hilliard
- Linda Hoffman
- Pamela Jones
- Sydney Joyner
- Howard Lavine
- Gary Maffei
- Mitchell Moore
- Romy Mortensen
- Ron Saxton
- Howard Shapiro
- Jenny Ulum
- Al Vermeulen
- Fred Ziari
- Ex-Officio
- Steven M. Bass
- CAB Chair
- Jack McGowan
- OPB Board Liaison
- Brenda Barton —
OPB Community Advisory Board
- Chair
- Jack McGowan
- Board Members
- Bret Bernhoft
- Beth Berselli
- Charlie Dolezal
- Charles Hudson
- Gian Morelli
- Jeff Monaghan
- Dawn Rasmussen
- Charlotte Rutherford
- Miguel Salinas
- Sarah Tatone
- Karen Wheeler
- OPB Board Liaison
- Avel Gordly
- Michael Hay
- OPB Staff Liaison
- Lynne Pollard
Board of Directors Meeting Schedule
All meetings are open to the public and held at OPB unless otherwise noted. The schedule below is subject to change. Please to confirm meeting times and dates or to get more information.
- June 2011
- June 7, Tuesday: 12:15pm (Appy Room)
- September 2011
- September 20: Board Retreat (Executive Session)
- December 2011
- December 6, Tuesday: 11:45am (Appy Room)
- March 2012
- March 6, Tuesday: 11:45am (Appy Room)
- June 2012
- June 5, Tuesday: 11:45am (Appy Room)
- September 2012
- September 11-12: Board Retreat
- December 2012
- December 4, Tuesday: 11:45am (Appy Room)
Board Committee Meeting Schedule
All meetings are open to the public and held at OPB unless otherwise noted. The schedule below is subject to change. Please to confirm meeting times and dates or to get more information.
- Audit Committee
- November 17, 2011, Thursday: 9am (PacifiCorp Room)
- January 19, 2012, Thursday: 2pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- April 2, 2012, Monday: 2pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- Community Advisory Board
- January 26, Thursday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- Development Committee
- TBD
- Finance & Investment Committee
- September 22, 2011, Thursday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- November 14, 2011, Monday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- February 22, 2012, Wednesday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- May 18, 2012, Friday: 11:30am (PacifiCorp Room)
- September 21, 2012, Friday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- November 16, 2012, Friday: 12pm (PacifiCorp Room)
- Governance Committee
- TBD
- Human Resources Committee
- TBD
- Strategic Planning Committee
- TBD
Milestones in OPB History
- 1922
- KFDJ-AM radio is created as part of a physics experiment at Oregon Agricultural College, now Oregon State University, in Corvallis.
- 1930s
- KFDJ becomes KOAC, with studios in Covell Hall at Oregon State University.
- 1957
- OPB’s first television station, KOAC-TV, goes on the air.
- Early 1960s
- Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. transfers ownership of its FM frequency to OPB and KOAP-FM (now KOPB) begins broadcasting.
- 1979
- The Oregon Commission on Public Broadcasting is established. In 1981 OPB leaves the Department of Higher Education and becomes an independent state agency.
- 1988
- OPB moves into its new facility on SW Macadam Avenue after its successful building campaign.
- 1989
- Oregon Considered, OPB's own Pacific Northwest news magazine, is first broadcast.
- Early 1990s
- Membership exceeds 100,000.
- 1990
- Oregon Field Guide begins production.
- 1993
- OPB becomes a private, nonprofit corporation with ongoing financial support from the State of Oregon.
- 1997
- OPB Radio's program format is refined to include more news and information.
- OPB installs Oregon’s first digital transmitter, taking a critical first step in the digital television transition.
- 2000
- Oregon Art Beat begins production.
- 2002
- OPB's World of Learning Digital Campaign raises $22 million.
- OPB loses all state funding.
- 2003
- History Detectives season 1 premieres for PBS.
- 2005
- OPB brings StoryCorps -- a national project inspiring Americans to record one another's stories in sound -- to Portland. Local residents visit the mobile StoryBooth to share their stories for broadcast on OPB Radio and preservation at the Library of Congress.
- 2006
- Oregon Experience, OPB's local television series exploring key people, places and events in our state's history, premieres.
- OPB, FRONTLINE and the Oregonian join forces to examine the methamphetamine epidemic through television specials (FRONTLINE: The Meth Epidemic, Meth: The Oregon Front), radio programs and online resources.
- 2007
- OPB TV celebrates its 50th anniversary.
- OPBnews.org -- an expanded news and information Web site -- launches.
- OPB invites community members from around the Northwest to help cover the news by signing up for the Public Insight Network.
- 2008
- opbmusic.org, an online music service encouraging conversation and connection between OPB and our community of local music fans, launches.
- Think Out Loud, OPB's local online and daily radio broadcast, premieres.
- KOPB-AM (1600) Eugene begins providing OPB Radio's news and information service.
- OPB and its community partners begin a statewide, multiplatform campaign to increase awareness about the impact of invasive species, featuring The Silent Invasion: An Oregon Field Guide Special, an invasive species online hotline and numerous outreach opportunities.
- Time Team USA, a new archaeology program for PBS, begins production.
- 2009
- OPB receives the duPont-Columbia University Award, one of the most prestigious national honors in the field of broadcast journalism, for The Silent Invasion: An Oregon Field Guide Special. The documentary illustrates how invasive species are changing the environment in Oregon, and focuses on ways people can work together to make a difference to native fish and wildlife resources, Oregon's economy and quality of life. The program's premiere in April 2008 marked the kickoff of the ongoing "Stop the Invasion" campaign that encourages community partners and citizens to collaborate in their efforts to take action against invasive species.
- OPB switched to all-digital broadcasting of its full-power television stations. Viewers can watch OPB's three digital channels — OPB HD, OPB and OPB Plus—over the air for free.
- 2010
- OPB and its community partners share the voices, ideas and stories of rural Oregonians through the Rural Economy Project, which includes OPB Radio and news stories, along with extensive online resources.
- OPB receives a $1.4 million two-year grant from CPB to direct a consortium of public broadcasting stations in the Northwest — with reporters in Portland, Seattle, Pullman, Boise and Medford — that will become the region's primary source of environmental coverage.
- 2011
- OPB expands its multimedia arts coverage with the launch of Arts & Life on OPB.org.
- OPB launches EarthFix, a public media partnership with reporters in Portland, Seattle, Pullman, Boise and Medford, to provide multimedia coverage of regional environmental issues.
More information about OPB
- PDF downloads
- OPB Member Report (PDF)
- Annual EEO Report, 2011 (PDF)
- Form 990 — FY10
- Form 990T — FY10
- Independent Auditor's Report and Financial Statements — FY11 (PDF)
- Emergency Alert System
- OPB has been designated the “State Primary” for the Emergency Alert System, initiating messages informing other broadcasters, viewers and listeners of a wide variety of emergencies including tsunamis, floods and Amber Alerts.
- Contact Us
- Let us know if you have questions or comments about OPB television, radio, online services or membership.
- Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to many common questions are available here. - By Phone
1.800.241.8123
9am – 5pm weekdays - By Email
opb.org/contactus - By Mail
OPB
7140 SW Macadam Avenue
Portland, OR 97219
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