Company Profile
Louisville Public Media
Company Overview
Louisville Public Media (LPM) is an independent, community-supported nonprofit serving our community on the web, on the radio, through podcasts and community events. LPM includes three public radio stations and an investigative unit.
MISSION
LPM provides independent and courageous news, music and experiences that serve the needs and aspirations of our diverse communities.
VISION
Because of LPM’s work, more people in our communities are seen and heard in media, feel connected and know how to take action.
STRATEGIC PILLARS
Listen: Our work reflects an honest view of our community, bringing people into our newsgathering and building relationships and collective experiences through music.
Challenge: We push ourselves and each other to question conventional wisdom and turn what is possible into what is real.
Welcome: We see the equity gaps in our community and work to close them through fair coverage, programming, policies and culture.
News. Arts. Music. Experiences. This is how LPM connects to our community. We are here for you, and we are here because of you.
Company History
When Louisville’s civic leadership founded 89.3 WFPL in 1950, they launched a tradition of innovation, entrepreneurship and uncommon public service.
Inspired to meet the evolving needs of our community, Mayor Charles Farnsley and Clarence “Skip” Graham, the director of the Louisville Free Public Library, created Louisville’s first public radio station. Both leaders fully understood the value of information, education and culture in the development of Louisville and its citizenry. They saw the need for innovative ways to provide access to learning and recognized that a public radio service could, as they expressed at the time, “become a vital community agency for social cultivation and strength.”
Louisville’s vision for 89.3 WFPL predated NPR’s first broadcast by 20 years and the Public Broadcasting Act by 17 years.
In 1993, Louisville made public radio history when the community’s three public radio stations — 89.3 WFPL, 90.5 WUOL, and 91.9 WFPK — were brought under one umbrella organization. The partnership maximized efficiencies in station management and content and removed duplication in programming with station-specific formats.
In 2008, the name of the organization was changed to Louisville Public Media to better reflect the organization’s commitment to new, interactive media platforms.
Today, LPM continues to innovate as a leading civic news organization and community connector through music and culture. What began in 1950 as a single 10-watt radio station has evolved in tandem with the community to become a multi-platform public service rooted in the community that created it and serving a diverse audience.