A couple of months ago, we learned about a community-driven effort to increase coverage of local events and information to residents in Freeport, Illinois. It's a weekly podcast called Freepod. We were intrigued. So, we took a listen.
The founders of the podcast are volunteers from the community who wanted to help inform residents as local news has diminished in recent years across Illinois. They wanted to be part of the solution in their hometown.
Marilyn Smit and Sandra Feaver are among the volunteers who led the charge to get the podcast off the ground and into your headphones.
Smit and Feaver say the effort is in direct response to what they feel is becoming a growing news desert in their neck of the woods:
Some rural communities in northwest Illinois are really suffering from a lack of local news. Freeport has been one of them. Many of us felt abandoned. How will we know what the City Council is doing? What are the issues facing the County Board? Or the School Board? Besides that, what’s going on this weekend? Is there anything fun?
'FREEPOD' was our way to get some answers. It’s a short weekly podcast of local news, events, awards and recognition, plus additional weekly interviews with local leaders, business owners, coaches, interesting people and so forth.
FREEPOD has been programming since the beginning of the year, with a short,10-15 minute ‘newscast' and one or more separate ‘in-depth interviews' released weekly. Hundreds of people are listening. And others are reading the information on-line.
We are extraordinarily pleased to begin partnering with Northern Public Radio to expand both of our audiences and our coverage. As a totally volunteer group at the moment, FREEPOD is looking forward to WNIJ’s experience, assistance, and advice. We think our purpose of "helping to create a well-informed community," and our journalistic standards of being "objective, accurate, inclusive and independent” are a great match with the mission and history of Northern Public Radio.
- Marilyn Smit and Sandra Feaver, Freepod
If you haven't had a chance to listen to Freepod yet, we want to let you know a little more about this initiative.
What's Freepod?
FREEPOD is a short, free podcast communicating local interviews, events, and information about Freeport. At just 10-15 minutes weekly, it is not intended to replace full-scale daily news mediums, but is intended for everyone. Tune in to hear more about:
- Public entity news (school boards, Stephenson County Board, Freeport City Council, Freeport Park District, Highland Community College, Freeport Public Library, etc.)
- Events of broad interest, including recreation, arts, educational presentations, major school activities, etc.
- Significant local sports news
- Human interest stories and community history
- Business/organization news
Freepod's mission:
- OBJECTIVE and non-partisan
- ACCURATE Relying on content and sources with integrity, openly transparent, and committed to quick error corrections when needed
- INCLUSIVE Topics of value to all segments of the community
- INDEPENDENT Not obligated to specific interests or groups
Where Freepod gets information:
FREEPOD has a large group of volunteer community members keeping an eye on what is newsworthy at any given time. Freepod also welcomes ideas from you!
Who started it?
The individuals beginning this venture are doing so on a voluntary, unpaid basis and are working to be a group whose members reflect and embody the above principles. Our members are Julie Beach, Becky Connors, Tim Connors, Kathy Eden, Lynn Feaver, Sandy Feaver, Thedford Jackson, Jane Lethlean, Patricia Norman, Marilyn Smit, Alan Wenzel, and Julie Wenzel.
How is WNIJ involved?
You will be able to find Freepod's weekly stories available on our website and social media. If you live or work in Freeport, we recommend you bookmark this page. WNIJ is also committed to making this relevant community information available to Spanish-speaking families and will be made available on our bilingual website, WNIJ Hola.
We are proud to highlight the important mission of Freepod and its community volunteers to bring you more information from Freeport.
