GREEN SPACE: The Environment Report tapes in Ann Arbor, gets heard around the country

Thursday, August 27, 2009 | Source: metromode

Thinking locally and nationally was always the bailiwick of the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, a locally-produced radio show that got started in Ann Arbor nearly 15 years ago. A smart look at environmental issues that focused on the Midwest as well as around the country, it began getting picked up by more and more public radio stations, but there was a hitch: General managers in the Southeast and Northwest and New England questioned the relevance of a show named Great Lakes Radio Consortium for their market.

Hence a name change became a necessary move, says Lester Graham, senior editor of the radio show now called The Environment Report. "We knew there had been several regional start-ups like ours attempted, and there was a demand for more environmental stories across the country," he says. "We had to change the one thing getting in our way, and that was our name."

That was three years ago, and despite a name change and a growing listening audience -- the show reaches just under a half-million a week -- many other things have stayed the same: their Ann Arbor address, their emphasis on Great Lakes stories and their commitment to connecting environmental stories to their listeners in a personal way. "This trick is trying to make these stories [resonate in the] everyday lives of people," says Graham. "Our show is done during drive time, [with listeners] that don't necessarily know they are looking for environmental news...we are not just preaching to the choir."

The show has three formats available for stations to pick up: a four-minute feature, a longer version of the same story and a quickie "spot." This allows stations to choose what fits their time and budget allowances. Recent topics have included the Gulf of Mexico's Dead Zone, the overpopulation of cormorants, the spread of tomato blight, and the future of McMansions.

The Environment Report has over a dozen regular freelancers and staff reporters based in Detroit, Washington, DC, Chicago and Cleveland. A now-regular feature will be Greenovation.TV, as was discussed in Green Space last week. Locally, it is carried on Michigan Radio's three stations as well as occasionally on WDET 101.9 FM.

Source: Lester Graham, The Environment Report
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh