Opportunities
About WRKF
89.3 WRKF is public radio for Louisiana's capital city. WRKF has informed and entertained Baton Rouge as the region's independent NPR affiliate since 1980. WRKF is a non-profit organization and serves its audience with support from underwriters and donors who value original coverage of Louisiana news and politics along with national and international news coverage from NPR.
WRKF features news and talk programming along with a diverse mix of music and cultural programs like "American Routes" with Nick Spitzer, theater of the mind programs like "This American Life" with Ira Glass, and variety programs like "Wait, Wait, Don't Me" with Peter Sagal. WRKF brings the BBC World Service to Baton Rouge every night. WRKF streams at wrkf.org, through the WRKF App, and on other digital platforms.
WRKF is an equal opportunity employer.
"South Louisiana is a place rich with heritage and passionate people. The food, of course, is amazing. But so are the stories. If you’re serious about your journalism and want to make a real difference in people’s lives, this is the job for you."
— Russell Lewis, NPR Southern Bureau Chief (and former New Orleans resident).
Open Positions:
Justice, Race and Equity Reporter, Gulf States NewsroomLocation: New Orleans, Louisiana
Do you have a passion for uplifting marginalized communities, accountability reporting, narrative storytelling and collaborative teamwork?
Come join us as a reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom! This is a chance to dig into a story-rich beat in a vital region, travel and do impactful work.
Who We Are: The Gulf States Newsroom is an exciting partnership between public radio stations in Louisiana (WWNO & WRKF), Alabama (WBHM), and Mississippi (MPB-Mississippi Public Broadcasting) and NPR. We’re working together as a regional newsroom to plan coverage, share resources and add reporting power in a story-rich region where too many local news outlets have disappeared. It’s part of NPR’s collaborative journalism network, an initiative designed to better connect NPR with local member stations to represent what’s happening around the United States.
Who We Are Looking For: We need a passionate reporter to travel across the region and cover stories about incarceration, policing, housing and education, through the lens of race and equity. And there are so many stories to tell. This region has some of the harshest sentencing laws and highest rates of incarceration in the country. Prisons in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are each under investigation by the Department of Justice for various violations. This reporter will cover these issues and their ripple effects on communities, and highlight the reform efforts underway to turn around these bleak statistics.
How It Works: The reporter will be an employee of WWNO in New Orleans and will report to the managing editor of the Gulf States Newsroom (based in Birmingham), with support from the local news director. This reporter will be part of a team of regional reporters who cover health care and wealth and poverty. Stories run on the radio and online across partner stations. They will have the opportunity to file for NPR often and occasionally pitch in on local coverage at their home station. This is a grant-funded position with funding through October 2023. The Gulf States Newsroom intends to raise funds to sustain the position beyond that period.
Salary: $45,000-$50,000
Required attachments:
- A cover letter explaining your journalism experience and why you are interested in this beat and the Gulf States Newsroom
- Your resume
- Two links to reporting samples you are proud of along with a couple of sentences explaining the backstory.
The position will remain open until filled. For best consideration, submit by August 15th.
Responsibilities:
- Pitch, plan, report and produce audio and digital feature stories to air/publish regionally and often nationally.
- Develop a robust network of sources that reflect the diversity of the region.
- Report local and regional news spots as assigned by the Gulf States Newsroom Managing Editor.
- Collaborate with editors and show staff at local stations to shape on-air two-way discussions.
- Ensure that all work meets NPR News and station standards for accuracy, fairness, honesty and impartiality.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
- At least two years of reporting and/or producing experience.
- Proven ability to work collaboratively with others and go with the flow.
- Ability to stay organized and meet deadlines for long and quick-turn assignments.
- Willingness to travel to report stories across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience with public records requests and data reporting.
- Familiarity with the Gulf States region.
- Ability to speak a language besides English.
Managing Producer, Audio
Live and work in Southeastern Louisiana, one of the most culturally dynamic places in the country. NPR member stations WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and WRKF Baton Rouge Public Radio seek an energetic and creative full-time managing producer for Louisiana Considered, the stations’ recently launched collaborative daily news magazine. The show airs live in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and drops as a daily podcast. The show covers unique stories across South Louisiana about the region’s news, politics, coast, culture, music and food, with a little lagniappe in each show. The managing producer will work with the hosts to plan and oversee the coordination of five shows per week. Some shows will focus on a single topic; others will be in a news magazine format with multiple topics/segments. The managing producer will also reconfigure content for re-air when necessary and oversee the digital, social media and podcast efforts for the show.
In addition, the managing producer will coordinate with Morning Edition and All Things Considered hosts for segments and interviews.
The managing Ppoducer has the choice to be based in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
Responsibilities and Duties
- Suggest and develop daily story ideas and segments with hosts.
- Write air-ready scripts, billboards and promos that are informative and imaginative.
- Oversee the booking of guests for interviews from a diverse pool of people and from a variety of backgrounds.
- In conjunction with the Hosts, respond to listener e-mails, letters and inquiries and assist when needed with answering phones, emails and social media comments during shows. Assist with background research on script, guests, and story ideas.
- Oversee Louisiana Considered’s social media outreach and explore ways to engage listeners on a variety of platforms.
- Coordinate interviews and segments with the morning and afternoon hosts.
- Work with News Director to coordinate special coverage, broadcast specials, regional coverage.
- Experience/Desire to train and operate the on-air control board during show production.
- Fill-in hosting in emergency situations.
- Coordinate the work of a small staff and ensure that the technical aspects of the show and website are executed correctly and in a timely manner.
Qualifications
- At least two years of experience in journalism or broadcast production
- Experience with the many details associated with the production of a daily news broadcast.
- Excellent writing skills, superb news judgment, great discernment and embracing the highest standards of journalism.
- Able to react quickly and steadily when breaking news requires a sudden pivot from something that had been previously planned.
- Able to coordinate the many details associated with the production of a daily news broadcast and/or podcast.
- Must be comfortable in a highly collaborative, detail oriented, deadline-driven environment.
- Proficient Digital Audio Software editing skills
- Able to motivate other staff members and maintain high production values.
Email cover letter, resume and three references with subject line "Managing Producer" to patrick@wwno.org.
Position is open until filled. First review submit by May 31, 2021.
We offer competitive compensation and benefits, including medical, vision and dental coverage, Life and LTD, paid vacation, personal/sick time, and retirement plan.
WRKF is an equal opportunity employer.