STLPR 2024 Annual Report

At St. Louis Public Radio, we rely on you, our community. We rely on your belief that local journalism is essential — essential for the health of St. Louis and our region, and essential for a thriving democracy. In a political climate where the truth is often obscured, where fairness and rigorous reporting are not always valued, the work of journalists only becomes more difficult. STLPR’s reporters and editors are inspired by the faith that our community has in the value of independent journalism. It gives them the confidence they need to be in the field every single day. In this troubled media landscape, your support uplifts and sustains.

And what an impact your support has made. In fiscal year 2024, STLPR again won a record number of journalism honors, 30 awards. As part of our ambitious new strategic plan, we are growing our capacity to produce this award-winning work, in part through collaborations with other news organizations. One outstanding example is the investigative series “Unsolved,” a partnership with two national journalism organizations, APM Reports and The Marshall Project. This multi-part exploration of homicide clearance rates in St. Louis is a victory for all who demand transparency and accountability from their public institutions. The series won a national Eppy Award from Editor & Publisher Magazine for best collaborative investigative/enterprise reporting.

Another of our strategic pillars is new audience development and engagement. To that end, we relaunched the We Live Here podcast. This special season helped the region reflect on the 10 years since the Ferguson Uprising and Michael Brown’s death. The series was highlighted in NPR’s “New & Noteworthy” podcast list and achieved an STLPR record for downloads in its debut month, introducing STLPR to new audiences both locally and nationally.

We are continuing to meet new audiences with the STL Welcome Kit — a story collection to help the new- and newish-to-St. Louis acclimate to their chosen home. Over the last year, we also invited the community to record meaningful conversations with their loved ones in the StoryCorps mobile booth, stories that will be preserved in the Library of Congress.

The myriad ways in which we support our community and our community supports us are growing as we aim toward our North Star of establishing St. Louis as a beacon of public service journalism through collaboration, innovation, and community engagement that helps the region thrive.

Already, in the new fiscal year underway, we hosted Morning Edition and the BBC for live broadcasts that shared St. Louis with the world. Thank you for your financial support that enabled us to produce the high-quality journalism and community events that the moment demanded of us in this past year, and to set a bold vision for our future.