Cascade Public Media

Annual Report 2023

Fiscal Year: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023

Previous Reports
Talent from KCTS 9 TV Cascade PBS programming 2023

CEO Message

A Message of Thanks from Rob Dunlop, President & CEO

Highlights

StoryCorps at KCTS 9

StoryCorps at KCTS 9

Spring 2023 we supported an oral history project to document the impacts of school busing across the United States during the Civil Rights movement. KCTS 9 hosted staff from American Experience and StoryCorps who conducted interviews in our facility. Community outreach yielded 15 volunteer interviewees, more than most participating cities. Seattle was heavily represented in the short documentaries StoryCorps produced, with two of the ten featuring our local participants.

Golden Apple Moments

Golden Apple Moments

Each year, KCTS 9 spotlights outstanding achievements in education through its Golden Apple Moments, a program inaugurated by the station in 1992 to honor exceptional teaching and education innovation in Washington State. After more than 25 years, this has become a legacy program of recognition for educators with interviews featured on-air, online, and via social media.

Northwest Neighbors

Northwest Neighbors is a new local video series that highlights the valuable work of local community organizations changing our neighborhoods for the better. We profile people and orgs throughout the Pacific Northwest who are working towards, and advocating for, equitable and just practices in areas as wide ranging as sustainable agriculture and educational resources for communities of color.

World’s Best TV App

World’s Best TV App

KCTS 9 further expanded the availability of its WORLD’S BEST TV streaming service in 2022 by introducing new apps for Android and iOS mobile devices. This robust multi-platform reach, coupled with the powerful KCTS 9 Passport member benefit, helped engage a younger and more diverse generation of prospective members. Significant marketing efforts in FY23 drove over 365,000 gross app installs across all platforms, including 169,000 in Canada.

KCTS 9 Podcasts

KCTS 9 Podcasts

We produced five unique Podcasts during FY23: Crosscut Reports, Crosscut Talks, Mossback, Out & Back, and Black Arts Legacies. Our mission was to extend our original content with a deeper dive or by providing a peek behind the scenes.

PBS Programming

PBS continued to provide an abundance of entertaining storytelling as well as essential news and programming across a diverse range of topics.

PBS Dramas

DRAMAS

Fans of British drama found escape with a trove of historical and modern-day romance and mysteries, including All Creatures Great and Small, Annika, Call the Midwife, Magpie Murders, Marie Antoinette, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Tom Jones, and the final seasons of perennial favorites Endeavour and Sanditon.

PBS added over 580 hours of international content

INTERNATIONAL CONTENT

In response to the growing popularity of global programming, PBS added over 580 hours of international content from Walter Presents, while KCTS 9 directly acquired several films and series, including the Canadian productions Peace by Chocolate, Stratford Festival, Fragile, and How to Survive in the Wild.

Making Black America: Through the Grapevine

BLACK HISTORY & CULTURE

We celebrated Black excellence all year long with a slate of programs across history, music, documentaries, science and genealogy. Highlights included two series with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Making Black America: Through the Grapevine and Finding Your Roots Season 9; the biographies of two iconic figures in Black history, Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass, both from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson; and Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World from rap legend Chuck D.

Ken Burns The US and The Holocaust

KEN BURNS

Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein examined the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south.

Local Video Series

Over the course of Fiscal Year 2023, our team expanded our original series lineup in exciting ways, producing six unique series that cover history, the outdoors, science, art and so much more.

OUT AND BACK

Hosted by author, activist and runner Alison Mariella Désir, this new series covers topics like the running boom, sun down towns, environmental racism, redlining, representation and more. Though these experiences range far and wide, the Pacific Northwest is full of people and groups who have faced issues of access and recognition and are actively working to change that.

ORIGINS

This docuseries collaborates with local filmmakers to reflect on the make-up of our region told from an insider’s perspective. Stories are grounded in ancestry, connection, culture, influence and rootedness.

MOSSBACK'S NORTHWEST

Host Knute Berger mines the Pacific Northwest's historical and cultural nuggets to explore the hidden backstories behind the region's most interesting treasures and why they're still relevant today. True tales from the most interesting place on earth!

HUMAN ELEMENTS – Season 3

The world of science is full of facts and figures, but behind the study are the people. In the end, it becomes a question not of how they do science — but why?

MADE THERE - Season 2

Made There features small business owners focused on local craft, food and beverage products within the Pacific Northwest. Each episode presents a unique guest, exploring the humble beginnings of their business, the creativity and enthusiasm behind their success, plus a helpful tip for viewers.

BLACK ARTS LEGACIES - Season 2

The contributions of Black artists to the cultural landscape of the Seattle area are longstanding, vital and ongoing. The works of these artists — in literature, music, visual arts and performance — are worthy of recognition and examination.

Top Ten Crosscut Stories

Community Engagement

Black Arts Legacies

Crosscut hosted our second annual celebratory social event in conjunction with our Black Arts Legacies project. The event featured a panel conversation with featured artists and a retrospective gallery of influential historical creatives. This project and the event have proven to be a way to support the diverse and creative communities that are a fabric of our region, and an initiative that opens doors to new, more diverse audiences to discover Cascade Public Media.

Explore the Outdoors Family Fair

Our inaugural Explore the Outdoors Family Fair was both a celebration of the debut of the new series, Out and Back with Alison Désir, and an event expanding on the mission of the series; to increase and celebrate BIPOC youth and family engagement in outdoors activities. The event included interactive tables from community groups, mini workshops for people of all ages to find out about the opportunities to engage with nature and the organizations advocating for BIPOC reclamation of outdoor spaces. As well as a panel that featured Alison Mariella Désir in conversation with individuals and organizations spotlighted in the series.

Crosscut Ideas Festival

Cascade Public Media’s signature event, The Crosscut Ideas Festival, returned in a hybrid format featuring both in person and virtual events, moving to the Amazon events building in downtown Seattle. For our sixth edition, the festival welcomed journalists from the top media outlets in the country, live-taping of podcasts from national media partners like CNN, Vox, and Slate; along with authors, politicians, business and community leaders, scientists, experts and creatives for compelling panels and firesides interviews. Over five days, the festival streamed more than 20 conversations covering the climate, education, the supreme court, equity, artificial intelligence, mental health, and more. Some prominent guests included author of the book How to Be An Anti-Racist, Dr. Ibram X Kendi; former Attorney General to the Obama administration, Eric Holder, CNN anchor, Audie Cornish; Political journalist with The New York Times and host of the podcast, The Daily, Michael Barbaro, candidate for president and former Texas congressman, Will Hurd; celebrated author Deepak Chopra, and many more. Select shows streamed for a virtual audience, and six keynote interviews were also recorded and rebroadcast on KCTS 9 and our digital channels.

Headliners Gala

Cascade Public Media welcomed our supporters and friends for the second annual Headliners Gala. The evening featured a conversation with Political journalist from The New York Times and host of the podcast, The Daily, Michael Barbaro. Guests also enjoyed food and drinks, and a live auction in support of KCTS 9. The Headliners Gala, a fundraiser for the organization, honored our roots in public media and the strength of Cascade Public Media’s connections in the community.

An Evening with Mossback

Celebrating our signature video series, Mossback's Northwest, Knute “Mossback” Berger joined producer Stephen Hegg for a live interview and screening of the first episode of the new season. The sold-out event treated attendees to behind-the-scenes tidbits about the making of the show, Mossback-themed prizes, and a special Cascade Public Media members-only pre-reception. Events like these are proving to be a big hit with our audience, a wonderful way to launch new video series, and a deep touchpoint for our members and most dedicated viewers.

2023 Awards

2023 Awards

2023 Northwest Regional Emmy® Award

We are proud to announce that KCTS 9 won the Historical/Cultural - Short Form Content award on June 3, 2023 at the Northwest Regional Emmy® Awards, the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.


KCTS 9 is devoted to providing quality journalism and compelling stories to the public. We are honored to have our work in environmental, cultural and civic reporting recognized.

HISTORICAL/CULTURAL - SHORT FORM CONTENT

Mossback's Northwest: Wyatt Earp in Seattle ∙ KCTS ∙ Michael McClinton, Producer/Director ∙ Stephen Hegg, Producer/Director ∙ Knute Berger, Host/Writer ∙ Resti Bagcal, Director of Photography ∙ David Quantic, Senior Editor ∙ Brad Curran, Editor ∙ Alegra Figeroid, Illustrator

2022 Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest Winners from Society of Professional Journalists

Crosscut won 8 awards, including several first and second place honors at the 2022 SPJ NW excellence in journalism awards announced June1, 2023. The Society of Professional Journalists contest includes entries from across SPJ Region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. To see the full list of winners visit: https://www.spjwash.org/2022-nw-excellence-in-journalism-winners/

Audio: Government & Politics Reporting

Large Newsroom Division

First Place: Sara Bernard, Mai Hoang

Up for Grabs: A Young Latino Voter Decides

Photo & Design: Portrait Photography

Large Newsroom Division

First Place: Meron Menghistab

Portrait of Donald Byrd

Writing: Editorial & Commentary

Extra Large Division

Second Place: Megan Burbank

Roe v. Wade was never the whole story

Video: Sports

Large Division

Second Place: Alison Mariella Désir, Sarah Hall

Out & Back: All Paces, All Faces

Writing: Business & Economics Reporting

Large Newsroom Division

Second Place: Josh Cohen, Sarah Hoffman, Amanda Snyder

How some low-income buyers can afford a home in pricey Seattle

Writing: Feature- Hard News

Large Newsroom Division

Second Place: Joseph O'Sullivan

Four years later, WA gun law hasn't been implemented

Writing: Government & Politics Reporting

Large Newsroom Division

Second Place: Joseph O'Sullivan

3rd Congressional District Election Coverage

Hannah Weinberger

Writing: Technology- & Science Reporting

Large Newsroom Division

Second Place

Why Woodland Park Zoo is making more animal vaccinations 'voluntary'

2023 Crosscut's podcast team honored with Best of the West award

April 12, 2023 SEATTLE — Congratulations to the Crosscut Podcast Team for winning the “Best of the West” award for “Audio Storytelling.” The team was honored for their work on the podcast episode "The Kids Are Not Alright" from the This Changes Everything series. The winning episode focused on how the pandemic challenged and changed education. "An incredibly strong and moving narrative. This is a podcast which will sit with you for a while, an incredibly rare feat in what is already an oversaturated market," a Best of the West judge wrote. “Unbelievably sound rich, with a great soundtrack to guide the listener while not overwhelming them. Incredibly important topic of which we have not even begun to plumb the depths, and I appreciate the meta-narrative concerning the actual coverage of the topic. An important story that was told to the very best of the storyteller’s ability.” 

2022 Washington Coalition for Open Government Bunting Award

The Washington Coalition for Open Government's executive committee recognized Crosscut and Cascade Public Media on Feb 2, 2023, with the Bunting Award for the “Washington Recovery Watch” investigative project. The Bunting Award recognizes journalists and media outlets for work that uses or advances Washington state’s open government laws, or educates citizens about them. The award honors the memory of the late Ken Bunting, an executive editor and associate publisher with The Seattle Post-Intelligencer who helped found WashCOG in 2002.  

Washington Coalition for Open Government Key Award

WashCOG recognizes Crosscut with a Key Award September 19, 2022 SEATTLE—Congratulations to the Crosscut editorial team on their award from the Washington Coalition for Open Government board for their work on Washington Recovery Watch. WashCOG voted to recognize Crosscut with a Key Award for its records-based reporting that tracked hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief money that poured into Washington state. This is a great honor for Crosscut and we are hoping to celebrate the award with an in-person presentation in October. Congratulations to Investigations Editor Jacob Jones, Investigations Reporter Brandon Block and everyone who made this possible!

Crosscut staff reporter Margo Vansynghel Wins Rabkin Prize 

July 19, 2022 SEATTLE—Congratulations to Crosscut staff reporter Margo Vansynghel on winning a Rabkin Prize for her work focusing on visual arts and culture reporting in Seattle. According to RabkinFoundation.org, The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation awarded Rabkin Prizes to eight visual art journalists.

Capital Campaign

campaign logo

After 40 years on the Seattle Center Campus, we are relocating to a new home at 316 Broadway in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. This is an exciting time for us to reimagine our work and to bring us closer to the diverse communities whose stories we want to tell. The $12.5 million public-facing capital campaign goal will fund the renovation of the preexisting facility at 316 Broadway, securing a permanent new home for our work.

To see updates and videos of the building under construction, visit the capital campaign website.

Our Donors

you help us grow

Cascade Public Media expresses sincere gratitude to the many individuals, families, businesses and organizations that invested in our organization between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this list. If your listing is incorrect, please accept our apologies and call us at 206.443.6768 so that we may correct it for future lists.

* These donors have contributed to the Leadership Circle for two or more consecutive years.

Leadership Circle donors who contribute to Crosscut are listed in bold.

2023 Financials

Total$42,321,921
Total$27,954,872

Net Income

Operating Income, less operating Expenses$8,988,517
Planned Giving (Capital Campaign & Endowment) Contributions$5,378,531
Depreciation and Amoritization$1,105,374
Total$15,472,422

Piranha Partners

Who We Are

Talent from KCTS 9 TV Cascade PBS programming 2023

Who We Are

Our mission at Cascade Public Media is to inspire a smarter world. This mission is based on the belief that a more informed and engaged community makes the world a better place.

Cascade Public Media is made up of two organizations that combine the best of trusted, traditional public media with the best tools of the current moment.

Cascade Public Media employs more than 100 talented and dynamic team members who work tirelessly each day in pursuit of our mission and strategy.

We are committed to building a team that represents a diversity of thought, experience, and personal background. Along with race, gender, and physical ability, we believe that one’s ethnicity, national origin, religion, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identification, and age are other dimensions that strengthen us. Such diversity enhances the relevance and substance of our work.

Cascade Public Media

Our mission at Cascade Public Media is to inspire a smarter world. This mission is based on the belief that a more informed and engaged community makes the world a better place.

Cascade Public Media is made up of two organizations that combine the best of trusted, traditional public media with the best tools of the current moment.

Cascade Public Media employs more than 100 talented and dynamic team members who work tirelessly each day in pursuit of our mission and strategy.

We are committed to building a team that represents a diversity of thought, experience and personal background. Along with race, gender, and physical ability, we believe that one’s ethnicity, national origin, religion, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identification, and age are other dimensions that strengthen us. Such diversity enhances the relevance and substance of our work.

KCTS 9

KCTS 9 is an award-winning PBS television station serving Washington and British Columbia. We educate and enrich our communities by providing informative, entertaining programs and meaningful outreach, creating public dialogue on local and national issues. We also offer a PBS KIDS 24/7 channel; Create, a food, travel and lifestyle channel; and WORLD, a channel that delivers documentary, science and news programs from around the globe. We also operate KCTS 9 Yakima, serving Central Washington. This year, KCTS 9 garnered more than 2.1 Million viewers across Washington and Canada through our broadcast channels as well as live streams. We had more than 125,000 active donors support our work with charitable contributions.

Crosscut

Crosscut is a regional news site that focuses on in-depth, public interest journalism. Crosscut’s foundational belief is that an informed public is essential to finding good solutions to the civic and political challenges of our time. This year, Crosscut published more than 950 stories, had more than 70,000 podcast downloads, and over 1,400 active donors made gifts in support of great journalism on Crosscut.

About Us

About Us

Cascade Public Media is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. They are responsible for the strategic, operational and financial performance of the organization.

The volunteer Community Advisory Board is responsible for informing Cascade Public Media management and staff about community issues and stories appropriate for content development and engagement to support the communities we serve.

We are grateful for the time and talents board members share with our organization.

Cascade Public Media Board of Directors

During the period July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023

OfficersAffiliation
Barbara Bennett - ChairFormer President & COO, Vulcan Inc.
Karli Barokas - Vice ChairManaging Partner, FINN Partners
Robert Moser - TreasurerRetired, President & CEO, Laird Norton Wealth Management
Holly Mesrobian - SecretaryDirector of Engineering in AWS Lambda, Amazon
Lynne Varner - Immediate Past ChairChief Executive Officer, Washington STEM
DirectorsAffiliation
Brenda AnibarroVice President of Learning and Community Engagement, Inatai Foundation
LaNesha DeBardelabenPresident & CEO of the Northwest African American Museum
Linh HoMarketing Executive
Michael HumphriesPresident, Waldron
Mona Lee LockeFormer Chief Communication Officer, Swedish
Rebecca LovellCOO, Greater Seattle Partners
Rob McKennaPartner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Sacha R.F. McLeanChair, McLean Group
Christopher ParkerStuart A. Scheingold Prof. of Social Justice and Political Science, Department of Political Science at University of Washington
Essex PorterRetired Television Journalist
Anita RamasastryHenry M. Jackson Prof. of Law and Director, Sustainable Intl Development Graduate Program at University of Washington; Member, and immed. Past Chair, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
John SchoettlerDirector, Global Real Estate & Facilities, Amazon
Michael SchutzlerCEO, Washington Technology Industry Association
Andrew SundPresident of Heritage University
Carole TomkoGlobal Media Executive
Sonny WongPresident & Creative Director, Hamazaki Wong Marketing Group
Tammy YoungChief People Officer, Prescryptive Health, Inc.

Community Advisory Board

Candice Gibson – Chair
Cynthia Rekdal - Vice Chair
Kailin Che
Robert Chorner
Tom Conlon
Charro Cruz
Krista Edwardson
Scott Fraser
Nimisha Goyal
Mytyl Hernandez
Stephanie Johnson Toliver
Ana Ruiz Kennedy
Kevin Lim
Ben Lu
Dori Peralta Baker
Jon Shellenberger
Son Michael Pham
Dr. Susana Reyes
Charlie Robin
Mary Ellen Robinson
Conan Viernes

Our Staff

Cascade Public Media employs 125 staff members who are dedicated to bringing you stories that will educate and inform as well as entertain – both on television and online. Today we find ourselves even more committed to providing essential public media services to everyone in our community.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

CPM strives to reflect within our organization the many diverse communities that we serve. We are committed to building a team that represents a diversity of thought, experience, and personal background. We view diversity as the characteristics and attributes that make each one of us unique. Along with race, gender, and physical ability, we believe that one’s ethnicity, national origin, nationality, religion, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identification, and age are other dimensions that strengthen us. More broadly, diversity includes geographic location, work experience, family status, socio-economic class, and political thought.

We enrich our community, our organization and ourselves when we celebrate and leverage the varied experiences and ideas that each individual brings. We invest our resources and hold ourselves accountable to increasing diversity of team members, board directors and content contributors.

CPM adopted a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) strategic plan to improve our organization and our service to the community, with the following goals:

1. Recruit and retain qualified, diverse team members and board directors that reflect, at a minimum, the statistical makeup of the population of the community we serve.

2. Foster a culture that encourages collaboration, flexibility and inclusion in order to enable all team members to contribute to their potential and increase retention.

3. Rectify systemic barriers to full inclusion by embedding diversity and inclusion in policies and practice.

4. Provide programming and events that reflect the diversity of our community.

The plan includes key results, measures of success, and deadlines attached to each of the goals. We embrace the ongoing nature of this work and will continue to iterate on our plan to achieve a fully diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that fosters true belonging.

To increase workplace diversity, CPM’s goals for FY2024 are to have an organization comprised of at least 50% female and 35% POC (to date, CPM is 58% female and 30% POC); and to increase managers of color by at least 25% (28% in FY2023) and have a minimum of 50% female managers (49% in FY2023).

CPM’s Executive Team is 57% female and 29% POC. Our Executive Editor is POC.

CPM’s Board of Directors adopted their own DEI plan that outlines key objectives to achieve, including diversifying the board to at least 50% female and 50% POC by end of 2025. CPM’s 2023-24 board is 53% female and 47% POC.

CPM’s board was recognized with the 2021 DEI Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors, which highlights forward-thinking boards that leverage DEI initiatives to enhance their governance and create long term value for their organizations.

To Learn more about our DEIB work, please visit https://www.cascadepublicmedia.org/diversity-commitment