Every week­day an all-vol­un­teer report­ing staff pro­duces an hour of orig­i­nal, hyper-local news for WOOC-LP’s ​“Hud­son Mohawk Mag­a­zine,” serv­ing the Troy, NY area. A focus on mis­sion and a con­cen­tra­tion of resources on jour­nal­ism helps the sta­tion accom­plish this dai­ly feat.

Steve Pierce is the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Media Alliance, which oper­ates WOOC inside the Sanc­tu­ary for Inde­pen­dent Media. Steve tells us how that orga­ni­za­tion grew out of the Inde­pen­dent Media Cen­ter move­ment of the 2000s, adding the solar-pow­ered radio sta­tion to its com­plex of three build­ings in 2016. By pri­or­i­tiz­ing pub­lic affairs pro­gram­ming and local ser­vice, the sta­tion is able to fun­nel dozens of vol­un­teers into its flag­ship news program.

Any com­mu­ni­ty media orga­ni­za­tion look­ing to pro­duce local report­ing will find valu­able take­aways in this interview.