Cascade Public Media

Annual Report 2022

Fiscal Year: July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022

Previous Reports
Characters from KCTS 9 TV programming

CEO Message

A message of thanks from Rob Dunlop, President & CEO of Cascade Public Media

Highlights

Muhammad Ali: Northwest Greatest

In September 2021, KCTS 9 premiered Muhammad Ali by celebrated filmmaker Ken Burns. The four-part biography brought to life one of the most memorable figures of the 20th century. As a companion to the national series, KCTS 9 produced a collection of animated short videos highlighting incredible stories of athletic achievements (past and present) from across the Pacific Northwest. The stories were told through beautiful animation and artwork from local creators and included a profile of Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Seales, a comic book-inspired retelling of sports commentator Art Thiel’s memorable encounter with “The Greatest” himself, and a look at the first officially sanctioned amateur female boxing match in history, held in Bellingham, Washington. Northwest Greatest won a Northwest Regional Emmy® Award for Best Campaign.

World's Best TV App

KCTS 9 World's Best TV

KCTS 9 expanded the availability of its WORLD’S BEST TV streaming service in 2022 by introducing new apps for Fire TV and Apple TV devices. With KCTS 9 Passport activated, the service provides members access to an extended catalog of beloved PBS shows, local favorites like Mossback’s Northwest, and a growing library of unique foreign-language dramas from across the globe. The WORLD’S BEST TV apps for Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV have been installed over 235,000 times.

Golden Apple Moments

KCTS 9 presents 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.

Top Ten Crosscut Stories

Local Video Series

Building out our local video content, this last year we focused on the three series below. Be on the look out for more local series and stories in the coming year.

Made There

Features small business owners and their stories of creating local craft, food, and beverage products that celebrate the Pacific Northwest.

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.

Human Elements

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.

Community Engagement

Black Arts Legacies

Crosscut hosted a celebratory social event featuring several of the artists recognized as a part of Crosscut's Black Arts Legacies project. The evening included the viewing of films by select artists, a panel conversation with featured artists, and a retrospective gallery of influential historical artists. Music from Black musicians, JusMoni and DJ Yaddy of Sway and Swoon DJ Collective. This event was a partnership with LANGSTON and kicked off their annual We Out Here festival, in conjunction with the Juneteenth holiday.

Civic Cocktail

Crosscut hosted a monthly event, Civic Cocktail, that featured elected and community leaders from the public for lively conversations about important issues facing our region. Topics covered in this series included public safety, housing and homelessness,local impacts on the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision by the supreme court, the vitality of the arts community, election previews and more. Each event was recorded before a live audience, live streamed for a virtual audience, and rebroadcast on air and available for viewing on our digital channels.

Food for Thought: An Immigrants Thanksgiving

KCTS 9 hosted a special edition of our Food for Thought event series, which takes a deeper look at the foods and traditions that define the ways we eat and relate to one another. Hosted by Rachel Belle, of the award-winning podcast Your Last Meal, Food for Thought aims to provide a deeper understanding of the world through food. The show demonstrates how through diverse perspectives and stories there is more that unites us than divides. This holiday event spotlighted local immigrant chefs and explored how they’ve incorporated their traditions into the uniquely American holiday of Thanksgiving.

Crosscut Festival

Cascade Public Media’s signature event, The Crosscut Festival, returned for its 5th edition in 2022. The festival welcomed journalists from the top media outlets in the country, 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 30 conversations covering the climate crisis, education, the supreme court, race and social justice, space exploration, authoritarianism, the pandemic mental health, and more. Some prominent guests included Pulitzer prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones; actor and environmentalist, Matt Damon; as well as Chief Medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff and many more. All sessions were streamed for a virtual audience. Keynote interviews were also recorded and rebroadcast on KCTS 9 and our digital channels.

The Headliners Gala

Cascade Public Media welcomed our supporters and friends for the first in-person edition of the 2022 Headliners Gala at the Museum of History and Industry in South Lake Union. The evening featured a conversation with Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and investigative reporter, Carl Bernstein. Guests also enjoyed delicious food and drinks, and a live auction in support of KCTS 9. The Headliners Gala honored our roots in public media and the strength of Cascade Public Media’s connections in the community, and the public announcement of our Capital Campaign to fund our new home.

Capital Campaign

Capital Campaign Logo

After 40 years on the Seattle Center Campus, Cascade Public Media is relocating to a new home at 316 Broadway in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. This is a thrilling time for us to reimagine our work and to bring us closer to the diverse communities whose stories we want to tell. Cascade Public Media’s Capital Campaign will raise $12.5 million of the $40 million needed to purchase and renovate the preexisting facility at 316 Broadway, securing a permanent new home for KCTS 9 and Crosscut.

2022 Awards

2022 Awards

2022 Northwest Regional Emmy® Award

We are proud to announce that KCTS 9 won the Program Promotion - Campaign award on June 4, 2022 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.

Program Promotion - Campaign

Northwest's Greatest: Muhammad Ali • KCTS • Jeremy Cropf, Producer • Resti Bagcal, Videographer • Arlo Ballard, Producer/Editor • Michael McClinton, Producer/Editor • Stacey Jenkins, Producer/Editor • Viktoria Ralph, Audio Engineer • Brian Brezinski, Animator • Matthew Jorgensen, Composer • Abby Thompson, Voice Over Talent • Bubba Jones, Composer • Kalina Torino, Animator • Carter Pierce, Illustrator • Greg Cohen, Design Director

2021 Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest Winners from Society of Professional Journalists

Crosscut won 11 awards, including 6 first place honors at the SPJ 2021 NW Excellence in Journalism Awards. To see the full list of winners, visit: https://www.spjwash.org/announcing-spj-nw-excellence-in-journalism-contest-winners/

Audio: Series

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

Second Place

This Changes Everything

Sara Bernard, David Kroman

Crosscut

Audio: Crime & Law Enforcement Reporting

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

Second Place

Seattle police, social workers and mental health crisis calls

Sara Bernard, David Kroman

Crosscut

Audio: Government & Politics Reporting

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Seattle police, social workers and mental health crisis calls

Sara Bernard, David Kroman

Crosscut

Video: Video Series

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Hidden Barriers

Jen Dev

Crosscut

Second Place

Our Shared Table

Sarah Hoffman

Crosscut

Photo & Design: Feature Photography

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Taking B(l)ack Pride

Genna Martin

Crosscut


Writing: Environment & Natural Disaster Reporting

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Cleaning up nuclear waste at Hanford: Secrecy, delays and budget debates

John Stang

Crosscut

Writing: Feature, Soft News

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

Second Place

How birds in the Pacific Northwest experienced the pandemic

Hannah Weinberger

Crosscut

Writing: Government & Politics Reporting

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Cleaning up nuclear waste at Hanford: Secrecy, delays and budget debates

John Stang

Crosscut

Writing: Investigative Reporting

X-LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

Second Place

Cops & Credibility

Melissa Santos

Crosscut

Writing: Series

LARGE NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Cops, Drugs & Civil Forfeiture

Eric Scigliano

Crosscut

Also, Crosscut was a part of:

SMALL NEWSROOM DIVISION

First Place

Getting to Zero: Decarbonizing Cascadia

Peter Fairley, Robert McClure

InvestigateWest, Grist, Crosscut, The Tyee and Jefferson Public Radio

[A yearlong reporting initiative led by InvestigateWest, in partnership with Grist, Crosscut, The Tyee, the South Seattle Emerald, The Evergrey, and Jefferson Public Radio, “Getting to Zero: Decarbonizing Cascadia” investigates the political and economic barriers to effective, equitable climate action across the Cascadian region.]

Crosscut staff reporter Margo Vansynghel wins Society for Features Journalism Award (2nd Place)

Crosscut Arts and Culture reporter Margo Vansynghel won a Society for Features Journalism Award for a cluster of three Crosscut articles she wrote, edited by Crosscut Arts and Culture editor Brangien Davis. The three stories earned Vansynghel 2nd Place for Feature Specialty Writing Portfolio.

The category where Vansynghel won her award requires “three stories by the same writer on one features specialty topic, such as arts and entertainment, fashion, food, health, religion, technology or travel,” according to featuresjournalism.org.

The award-winning pieces are as follows: “Welcome to Seattle’s new Selfie Museum, where you are the masterpiece,” “Seattle photographers trade Zoom calls for a zoom lens” and “Seattle drive-in dance event is part scavenger hunt, part performance.”

Under the judge’s comments, Vansynghel’s award-winning portfolio was called, “Well-written, engaging and fascinating projects, from a piece on drive-by dances to one on selfie walls. This is a skillful look at how to cover the arts outside of traditional institutions.”

CPM BOD Receives 2021 DEI Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors

Cascade Public Media is pleased to announce that our board of directors has received the 2021 DEI Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). The NACD DEI Award highlights forward-thinking boards that leverage the power of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to enhance their governance and create long term value for their organizations.

“Cascade Public Media’s mission is to inspire a smarter world—and that means a world that values diversity, equity and inclusion,” said CPM Board Chair Lynne Varner. “Our board is committed to accountability for the DEI priorities we’ve set out in our strategic plan, including identifying and addressing systemic barriers in the way of full inclusion. We’re humbled and delighted that work is being recognized by NACD.”

NACD cited Cascade Public Media’s board for governance that holds DEI at the center of is vision, actions and results, as well as its inclusive culture that encourages contributions and innovations from all members. CPM’s board strives to reflect the needs and aspirations of the many communities it serves. The board membership is currently 30 percent Black, Indigenous or people of color, and 40 percent women.

Site: https://www.nacdonline.org/nxt/content.cfm?itemnumber=60571

2022 Financials

Total$33,514,267
Total$25,051,323

Net Income

Operating Income, less Operating Expenses( $2,828,958 )
Planned Giving (Capital Campaign & Endowment) Contributions$11,291,902
Depreciation and Amortization( $1,061,000 )
Total$7,401,944

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, 2021, and June 30, 2022.

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 are contributors to Crosscut are listed in bold.

Who We Are

Who We Are

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 approximately 1.67 million viewers each week throughout Washington state and in Canada; more than 100,000 active donors made gifts in support of our programming.

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, and an average of 77,000 visitors came to our website each week; more than 2,200 active donors made gifts in support of great journalism on Crosscut.

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, 2021 - June 30, 2022

OfficersAffiliation
Lynne Varner - ChairAssociate Vice Chancellor, Washington State University
Barbara Bennett - Vice Chair, Former President & COO, Vulcan Inc.
Robert Moser - TreasurerRetired, President & CEO, Laird Norton Wealth Management
Karli Barokas - SecretaryManaging Partner, FINN Partners
Michael Humphries - Immediate Past ChairPresident, Waldron
DirectorsAffiliation
Linh HoMarketing Executive
Mike HughesRetired, Executive VP, Liberty Mutual
Rick LinnewehRetired, President & CEO, Memorial Family Services
Mona Lee LockeFormer Chief Communication Officer, Swedish
Rob McKennaPartner, Orrick
Sacha R.F. McLeanPresident & CEO, McLean Ventures Ltd.
Holly Mesrobian Director of Engineering in AWS Lambda, Amazon
Sharon NelsonRetired, Lawyer
Christopher ParkerStuart A. Scheingold Prof. of Social Justice and Political Science, Department of Political Science at University of Washington
Anita RamasastryHenry M. Jackson Prof. of Law and Director, Sustainable Intl Development Graduate Program at University of Washington
Carole TomkoGlobal Media Executive
John SchoettlerDirector, Global Real Estate & Facilities, Amazon
Michael SchutzlerCEO, Washington Technology Industry Association
Glenn WongPrincipal, Catalyst Solutions, Ltd.
Tammy YoungChief People Officer, Prescryptive Health, Inc.

Community Advisory Board

During the time period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022

Candice Gibson - Chair
Cynthia Rekdal - Vice Chair
Kailin Che
Robert Chorner
Tom Conlon
Krista Edwardson
Scott Fraser
Stephanie Johnson-Toliver
Fritz Kessler
Kevin Lim
Ben Lu
Dori Peralta Baker
Son Michael Pham
Alexander Pualani
Dr. Susana Reyes
Charlie Robin
Conan Viernes

Our Staff

Cascade Public Media employs more than 100 staff members who are dedicated to bringing you stories that will educate and inform as well as entertain – both on television and online. As we continue to understand the "new normal", we find ourselves even more committed to providing essential public media services to everyone in our community.

Piranha Partners

piranha partners

Piranha Partners is a proud division of Cascade Public Media.

Piranha specializes in creative storytelling through, animation, creative writing and distinctive audio. We work with a range of organizations to create stories that motivate action.

Piranha's work throughout the Community in turn, supports the work of Cascade Public Media.

Below are just two small samples of some of the work Piranha is doing in our community.

Northwest African American Museum

We’ve done several very cool projects with NAAM, but probably the grandest is the continuing “Interactive StoryTime” series.

Here’s the latest featuring an animated host that is about to expand into a number of early childhood education projects introducing a super-cute “Story of Rap”

The Girl Scouts

We’ve done several very fun “self-learning” programs for the Girl Scouts. In fact, one of the absolute coolest things is that Piranha is actually 5 different Girl Scout patches that can be earned in a “Digital Storytelling” platform. The latest is two different paths, depending on age, to winning a “Digital Leadership” Badge.

Here’s a piece showing a few segments that is being used a recruiting tool.