This story by KSUT Staff appeared on KSUT.org on May 10, 2022. You can listen to an interview with KSUT Executive Director Tami Graham and One Small Step Coordinator Adam Burke on the KSUT.org website, here.
KSUT has partnered with StoryCorps, the national nonprofit dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing the stories of Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs, as part of StoryCorps’ One Small Step Radio Station Hubs project. KSUT is one of six public radio stations across the country selected to receive training and production assistance to collaborate on StoryCorps’ One Small Step initiative, which facilitates conversation and connection between people of opposing viewpoints. One Small Step Communities is made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
“KSUT has always had a mission to provide a bridge between the communities we serve,” said KSUT Executive Director Tami Graham. “Partnering with StoryCorps is a great opportunity to further that mission, and be a convener and connector in our region.”
“We are reaching out to a diverse array of Four Corners residents and everyone is welcome,” said Adam Burke, who is handling KSUT’s engagement for the project. “This is an opportunity to have an extraordinary conversation with a stranger and we’re committed to ensuring these encounters are engaging, respectful and safe for everyone who participates.”
“Since StoryCorps’ founding almost 20 years ago, our mission has been to remind each other of our shared humanity through the act of listening. One Small Step builds on this work to address the crisis of contempt ripping at the seams of our nation,” said Dave Isay, StoryCorps’ founder and president. “We are grateful to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for supporting One Small Step, and to KSUT for partnering with us to gather and share recordings. The initiative is ambitious, but we’re confident that by working together in the Four Corners region, we can show the country that an alternative to toxic polarization is possible.”
Each year, StoryCorps partners with public radio stations to administer One Small Step, connecting people in their communities. The 2022 One Small Step Radio Station Hubs are WDET, in Detroit, MI; WUTC, in Chattanooga, TN; KSUT, in Ignacio, CO; Georgia Public Broadcasting radio stations across the state of Georgia; WHQR, in Wilmington, NC; and WTIP, in Grand Marais, MN.
To sign up, visit storycorps.org/ksut, or email Adam Burke: onesmallstepksut@gmail.com. For more information on the One Small Step initiative, visit ksut.org.
Two members of each participating station are trained by StoryCorps staff. The stations will receive program support and a customized set of professional recording equipment for in-person recording, as well as access to StoryCorps’ remote recording platform, which can be used to host conversations virtually. Trained station staff members will facilitate and record conversations between community residents of differing political persuasions and selected interviews will be shared across each station’s media platforms. Stations will also team up with a variety of community organizations to spread the word, and will collaborate with StoryCorps to match participants and record conversations through the end of the year. The project includes a series of public listening events, streamed online.
“One Small Step uses conversation to help people reach across political divides to find common ground,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “By working with local public radio stations to connect people with different backgrounds and political beliefs, One Small Step is helping stations strengthen their communities, one step at a time.”
Launched by StoryCorps in 2018 in response to growing division in the country, and recently profiled by CBS’ “60 Minutes,” One Small Step is a nationwide initiative that provides two strangers who hold different views with the opportunity to take part in facilitated and recorded conversations — specifically to counteract intensifying political divides and to enable those who disagree to listen to each other with respect. Rather than spark additional political debates, One Small Step encourages answers to questions like, “Was there a moment, event, or person in your life that shaped your political views?” and “What scares you most when you think about the future?”
Public radio stations have played an integral role in helping StoryCorps to realize its aspiration to touch the lives of every American. Since 2005, more than 150 stations in all 50 states have hosted the StoryCorps Mobile Tour, providing local access to a mobile recording booth that travels the country, reaching people of all backgrounds and providing opportunities to capture stories of communities that might otherwise go untold.
StoryCorps’ One Small Step initiative is made possible by the generous support of The Hearthland Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Charles Koch Institute. StoryCorps thanks these donors for their commitment to this project and to bridging divides in America.
About KSUT
KSUT is a community-supported public broadcasting organization dedicated to serving the multicultural community of the Four Corners by providing eclectic entertainment, education, in-depth news and community and public information services promoting multicultural awareness and understanding through two signals: Four Corners Public Radio and Tribal Radio. Four Corners Public Radio signals can be heard at 90.1 and 89.3 in La Plata County, 88.1 in Farmington and Pagosa Springs, 106.3 in Cortez, Mancos and Montezuma County, and 91.5 in Silverton. Tribal Radio can be heard at 91.3 in Ignacio, Bayfield and Southern Ute and Jicarilla Apache tribal lands, 89.7 in northwest New Mexico and Navajo tribal lands, and 100.9 serving Ute Mountain Ute lands. Both stations steam live at www.ksut.org and www.tribalradio.org
About StoryCorps
Founded in 2003, StoryCorps has given nearly 600,000 people, in all 50 states, the chance to record interviews about their lives. The award-winning organization preserves the recordings in its archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered, and shares select stories with the public through StoryCorps’ podcast, NPR broadcasts, animated shorts, digital platforms, and best-selling books. These powerful human stories reflect the vast range of American experiences, engender empathy and connection, and remind us how much more we have in common than what divides us. StoryCorps is especially committed to capturing and amplifying voices least heard in the media. The StoryCorps MobileBooth, an Airstream trailer that has been transformed into a traveling recording booth, crisscrosses the country year-round gathering the stories of people nationwide. Learn more at storycorps.org.