FY17 CPB Report – Section 6.1, Local Content and Services Report – WXPN (Telling Public Radio’s Story)
1. Describe your overall goals and approach to address identified community issues, needs, and interests
through your station’s vital local services, such as multiplatform long and short-form content, digital and inperson engagement, education services, community information, partnership support, and other activities,
and audiences you reached or new audiences you engaged.
WXPN is committed to reflecting the musical diversity of the local community. These goals are fostered by ourcontinued commitment to making great radio and creating compelling digital content, and connecting with local,
community and national organizations. This responsibility drives us to advance our efforts toward new technologydriven distribution to maximize the impact of events, tell our story and the story of the musicians and audiences
we serve, and build our national brand and audience. As part of the culturally diverse Philadelphia metropolitanarea, the station’s on-air and digital efforts reflected a greater integration into that diversity in FY17.
As each new project is considered we ask ourselves, “what’s the radio, what’s the digital, what’s the event.” InFY17, WXPN enhanced our technology and delivered more on video, produced outstanding, unique live events,
and grew our membership base, which now includes Northern New Jersey. These advances helped the station
grow in a rapidly changing media environment. XPN’s multi-platform approach helps us to define and lead incommunity engagement. Our terrestrial broadcast reaches 400,000 listeners who enjoy a broadcast of curated
playlists from a varied programming schedule supporting audiences in Philadelphia, Lancaster and York counties,
Harrisburg and the Lehigh Valley, Worton Baltimore, Maryland and counties in Northern New Jersey. WXPN
members enter the conversation with the station and each other through the station’s Twitter, Facebook and the
XPN weekly E-news. Visitors to the website can find what’s playing on the program guide and tune in to recently
archived specialty shows.Four streams are available for online listening: WXPN, XPN2, Folk Alley and the World
Cafe archives. In FY17 members and listeners engaged with the video channel, VuHaus with features local events
including WXPN’s Free At Noon shows, archived footage of live performances from World Cafe, station event
performances, and the 2017 Non-Commvention (May 17-19, 2017) which is held annually at WXPN. VuHaus iscontinuing to grow, adding stations and new elements to their environment.
Significant programming choices are part of producing nearly 2 dozen daily or weekly staff curated on-air
programs. Hiring a Contributing Host for the nationally syndicated World Cafe, plus the addition of a World Cafe
Producer were key strategies for the vitality of the program; new features were developed on The Key, the local
music website and banner under which WXPN presents local musicians at concerts throughout the city. In addition
to video and audio studio sessions, The Key features XPN’s comprehensive concert calendar; WXPN produced andbroadcast the annual XPoNential Music Festival at the Camden Waterfront at Wiggins Park and the BB&T Pavilion
in partnership with Live Nation; Latin Roots Live Series of free shows were attended by WXPN members andlisteners while drawing a significant new audience from the region’s Latino community. The station’s partnership,particularly with AfroTaino Productions, and marketing efforts toward community building were part of what madethe project a success. WXPN hosts the annual Non-Commvention which brings radio station and music industry
staff to Philadelphia for 3 days of public-radio-focused conference sessions and live performances featuring a lot ofband diversity. WXPN members were offered admission to the shows at a 3-day pass rate. And we still found time
to air a little Penn Quaker Basketball.
XPN’s scheduled programming is enlivened with engaging musical productions, including our annual playback oflistener-voted “countdowns.” On November 30, 2016, the countdown was tweaked to an essential XPN AtoZ
playback of the station’s extensive song library. The XPN AtoZ aired almost 24/7 for 18 consecutive days: “ABC by
The Jackson 5 to Camper Van Beethoven’s “ZZ Top Goes to Egypt” preempting specialty shows and daily
programming but retaining Friday’s Free At Noon shows. Songs were pulled from previous885 Countdowns, David
Dye’s Funky Friday vaults, Helen Leicht’s Philly Local record stacks, Dan Reed’s punk rock record collection, Kristen
Kurtis’s massive collection of Friday Morning mixtapes, many years of our Artists To Watch, the hundreds of bandthat have played the XPoNential Music Festival, Robert Drake’s Land of The Lost library, and included music fromthe 1950s to the present day. The XPN A to Z was a musical experience showcasing the incredible size of the XPN
music library, the depth of the artists we play, and all the many genres we explore from folk to funk, indie-rock toclassic rock, soul and blues among them. For listeners who said they didn’t want it to end, Drive Time DJ Dan Reed
started the whole thing over again – and faked everyone out. All good things must come to an end – for now. The
success of XPN AtoZ boosted listening throughout its airing, and would be reprised in FY18 newly incarnated as the
XPN 70s A-Z. Listeners followed the daily playlist and browsed the complete song list by letter at XPN.org, and they
participated through Facebook and on Twitter at #XPNAtoZ.

Programming stunts designed to develop themes in music are also built into individual daily programs to give
listeners the opportunity to be one with the station: on the Morning Show, listeners’ suggestions are incorporated
into the playlist for the popular Friday Morning Mix Tape and found also on the Spotify playlist. Interactive
playlists are the focus of the popular Saturday afternoon show, All Request Saturday with host, Eric Schuman. Dan
Reed’s Binge on the 70s Weekend (October 21-23, 2016) was a listening hit so popular on the air and on social
media that it would work its way to becoming a 2 week long exploration of 70s sounds in FY18. March 1 throughMay 10 2017, The Key explored the music of a period, the late 60s and early 70s and its resurgence in the 1990s, in
Philadelphia with a 3-part series The Sounds of Psychedelphia. On May 31, 2016, Bruce Warren introduced
Throwback Thursday in an article on The Key announcing the start of a summertime series on June 2, and every
Thursday through the end of August. XPN hosts mine music’s vast musical history for day-long trips into a specificgenre or year or musical movement, playing the hits, misses and deep tracks for #TBTXPN. Reflecting WXPN’s
explorations of distinct musical landscapes, American Routes’ range of music showcases Cajun, Zydeco, Tejano,
Latin, rock, pop, gospel and soul to tell the story of these American styles and how they are distinguished; theprogram uniquely complements the vision of WXPN’s musical mission. WXPN championed each of these culturaland musical genres exploring them with projects, The Mississippi Blues Project and Zydeco Crossroads, andcurrently with Latin Roots Live. The show is hosted and produced in New Orleans by Nick Spitzer. Most recently
added to the musical journey will be The Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul with a grant awarded from the Pew Center
for Arts and Heritage announced on June 19, 2017. All of the projects tied into the station’s Travel Adventure
Series, Sense of Place with cultural/musical excursions that includes the participation of those XPN Members whowant to travel with their radio station to hear and see music performed by artists in their native countries.
Live at the Kelly Writers House is a collaboration between the Writers House and WXPN. Audio for each of these
episodes is available on Kelly Writers website. Six episodes of the program are recorded at Kelly Writers House infront of a live audience for broadcast during the fiscal year. These shows are streamed online at http://xpn.org/
2. Describe key initiatives and the variety of partners with whom you collaborated, including other public media
outlets, community nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, the business community, teachersand parents, etc. This will illustrate the many ways you’re connected across the community and engaged withother important organizations in the area.
WXPN collaborated with other public media outlets to diversify, increase and enhance our music and culturalcommunity. These efforts combine to illustrate the station’s ability to be on the scene locally and nationally. Someof the productions noted in this report are large and many-faceted, while some others are smaller in scope but
feed larger goals of connecting audiences to artists in significant ways.
WXPN’s Musicians On Call – FY17. WXPN’s mission is to connect musicians with audiences. The range of
connection is focused on patients in local healthcare facilities and their families in the Musicians On Call program.
WXPN is partnered in the New York based program, Musicians On Call (MOC). Nationally, the program has grown
to encompass 14 cities. With a large community of WXPN Musicians On Call volunteers and local volunteer
musicians, the program is thriving throughout the Philadelphia region. Our regional branch of the national program
was launched in 2004 in 2 hospitals. Since then, WXPN’s MOC program grew to 10 weekly programs in 8
healthcare facilities. The most recent addition to the roster of facilities is Bryn Mawr Hospital, part of the Main Line
Health System. Since the program began 98,000 patients and their families have participated in the program that
includes 2 pediatric facilities, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in
addition to the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC), and 5 healthcare facilities in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Delaware. In addition to the unyielding support of WXPN MOC Volunteer guides and musicians, thewholehearted advocacy of the station’s midday host, Helen Leicht has been fundamental to the success of the
program. Helen lends her connection with XPN and local musicians. Once musicians are selected and scheduled,they visit patients at bedside with a program volunteer guide.
WXPN local musical legends, Amos Lee and Mutlu were present at the launch of the program at Bryn Mawr
Hospital on June 7, 2017. Lee, as quoted in the Main Line Times article shared that “it’s just an opportunity toconnect to people one on one.” Indeed, it’s the personal connection to those who are in the midst of illness andthose bringing their gifts through the program that give Musicians On Call its strength and value.
To demonstrate the radio station’s deep appreciation to the program’s volunteers, a MOC Volunteers party washeld at WXPN later that evening.

The program is sponsored by Subaru of America. It is also supported with fundraisers hosted by WXPN. The 4th
Annual 5K for WXPN’s Musicians On Call was held most recently on October 1, 2017, details are found in section 4of this report.
Tiny Desk Concerts On the Road, May 2, 2017. NPR Music invited several station partners to do live events invarious cities taking “Tiny Desk Contests On The Road.” On May 2, 2017 WXPN World Cafe Contributing Host, Talia
Schlanger and NPR Music’s Bob Boilen introduced Tiny Desk Philly to a sold-out crowd at World Cafe Live in
Philadelphia with Philadelphia’s hip-hop bands Hardwork Movement and ILL DOOTS, electronic singer andsongwriter Aphra and rockers Maitland. WXPN The Key Editor John Vettese introduced the bands on stage. A
juried contest, Tiny Desk Concerts received over 6,000 submissions from unsigned artists. The 2017 Tiny Desk
Contest On The Road tour was presented by Lagunitas Brewing Company.
A month-long David Dye and the World Cafe 25th Anniversary celebration started with a campaign that raised$1,000,000 for the program and a celebration for the contributors to the campaign at La Peg in the Fringe Arts
Building in Philadelphia on March 1, 2017. Two nights of concerts at World Cafe Live kept the party going withperformances by Ben Vaughn, Sylvan Esso and Ryan Adams on March 3 and Josh Ritter and Rodney Crowell on
March 4, 2017. These celebrations introducing World Cafe Next were just the beginning of a year of building the
program. These initial events were bookended with a weekend that included past XPN partner and collaborator in
the arts and culture festivals, The Philadelphia Film Society.
25th Anniversaries Music and Film Festival, March 31-April 2, 2017. WXPN partnered with the Philadelphia Film
Society (PFS) to combine audiences from 2 arts worlds – film and music - as PFS and WXPN’s World Cafe combinedforces to Celebrate their 25th Anniversaries with a Music and Film Festival featuring a weekend itinerary of classic
music films, and dance parties at the Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. WXPN and PFS members
were offered discounted ticket packages. World Cafe Host David Dye was joined by XPN on-air staff to introduce
the films and talk about their soundtracks. The Key Editor, John Vettese spun the 90s music during vinyl market
place and between films. Estimated Attendance: 980
The Weekend was structured with 4 discreet event parts. Facebook event pages carried the details for attendees
and dressing for the decades was encouraged!
• Friday 80s night• Saturday 70s hangout and Last Waltz• Saturday Britishmania / Film
• Sunday 90s Day
March 30 - 80s Night
8:00pm STOP MAKING SENSE (MainStage) David Dye to intro film
10:00pm LAND OF THE LOST DANCE PARTY (Blackbox) Robert Drake hosting dance party
April 1
4:00pm 70S HANGOUT WITH DAN REED (lobby) hosted by Dan Reed
5:00pm THE LAST WALTZ Dan Reed intro
8:00pm 50 YEARS OF SGT PEPPER’S – BRITISHMANIA LIVE + SCREENING hosted by Helen Leicht
Sunday, April 2, 2017
2:00pm VINYL MARKET PLACE
3:30pm HIGH FIDELITY
6:00pm SINGLES
8:00pm ALMOST FAMOUS
Live at the Kelly Writers House is a collaboration between the Writers House and WXPN. Audio for each of these
episodes is available on Kelly Writers website. Six episodes of the program are recorded at Kelly Writers House infront of a live audience for broadcast during the fiscal year. These shows are streamed online at http://xpn.org/
Episodes feature a musical guest, poetry readings, prose and spoken-word performances. Kelly Writers House
hosts more than 300 events and projects a year, most of which are free and open to the public. In FY17, WXPNNews and Sports Director Bob Bumbera produced the following episodes with Kelly Writers House coordinator, Alli
Katz:
#118 Science Writers featuring Philadelphia-area science writers with musical guest, Shelly Peiken/recorded
9/26/16; aired 10/4/16#119 featuring Philadelphia Poets with musical guest, Scraaatch/recorded 10/31/16; aired 11/8/16

#120 – featuring Local Writers with musical guest A Day Without Love/recorded 11/28/16; pre-empted#121 – featuring the podcast, The Witching Hour with musical guest Shaina Jolle/recorded 1/30/17; aired 2/7/17#122 – featuring Philadelphia Teachers with musical guest Little Strike/recorded 2/27/17; aired 3/27/17#123 – featuring Women Writing about Conflict Regions with music guest Destiny X/recorded 3/27/17; aired
4/4/17The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education October 23, 2016. Kids Corner Host, Kathy O’Connell and The
Schuylkill Center Executive Director Mike Weilbacher (he is also the All-Natural Science Guy who knows a lot in the
category Science Potpourri on Kids Corner) co-hosted the event’s “pirate” radio show from 10a.m.- 2p.m. for thecelebration of Earth Day, Naturepalooza! at the Center.
Urban Outfitters College Night Out. On Thursday, September 15, 2016 WXPN participated in “Urban Outfitters
College Night Out.” Area college students participated in the local event at Urban Outfitters, 110 S. 36th Street,
Philadelphia. WXPN DJs Eric Schuman and John Vettese were present to help introduce WXPN to the “urban”
community and to provide music for the event. XPN Member Services Managers Emily Pavie and an XPN
Volunteer greeted students at XPN’s table filled with XPN handouts including information about the WXPN 5K Racefor Musicians On Call on October 2, 2016. There was plenty of station swag for the taking and a prize wheel to spin
in exchange for student’s email addresses. The membership staff sent emails to the students to familiarize themwith the station’s music and outreach. In addition, 60 students signed up to receive XPN’s E-newsletter. This event
furthered XPN’s effort to connect with students on campus and to give them a look at the opportunities the station
could offer.
2017 XPoNential Music Festival presented by Subaru – July 28-30, 2016. WXPN’s annual music fest at theCamden, NJ waterfront hosted 30,000 total attendees to Wiggins Park and BB&T Pavilion for live performancesfrom a diverse mix of artists. At Wiggins Park, audiences assembled in front of two stages, the River Stage and theJerseyArts.com Marina Stage. Evening show headliners for the weekend performed at BB&T Pavilion, adjacent to
Wiggins Park. The XPoNential Festival is produced in partnership with the Camden County Board of Freeholders.
WXPN’s collaboration with Live Nation enabled WXPN to extend the breadth of the Festival by booking major
headlining acts at BB&T Pavilion. The partnership, in its 6th year in FY17, also allows access to BB&T for Festival
goers. The waterfront’s Adventure Aquarium provided green rooms and hospitality for the River and Marina Stage
artists. On Saturday and Sunday, July 29 & 30, Kids Corner occupied the performance space in the Children’s
Garden at Wiggins Park. It was a cool and stimulating space for kids’ activities and live performances by “kindie”
artists for families. Food vendors and crafters’ booths enhanced the family friendly atmosphere throughout
Wiggins Park.
WXPN is a participant in the annual University of Pennsylvania campus-wide Take Our Daughters and Sons toWork Day (TOD&STWD), a nationally recognized career-related activity, TOD&STWD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
educational program for parents to take their children to work for one day to explore careers and expand flexibility
around gender roles on the job. On Thursday, April 27, 2017, WXPN welcomed staff from The University ofPennsylvania and their children for a performance by Ants On A Log. Providing a live concert with artists who workin the genre of Family Music was a departure from WXPN’s traditional TOD&STWD event. WXPN’s Kids Corner Host
Kathy O’Connell spoke to the families about the show’s broadcast Monday-Thursday at 7PM which features weekly
segments on subjects that include science and technology, pets and books. The performers were two women who
make terrific music, often hilarious and often with a message, Ants On A Log, Anya Rose and Julie Beth. The duo
opened their performance demonstrating how anyone could make percussion instruments out of anything!
Pouring portions of grains into empty containers found around the kitchen, their improvised instruments became
part of the musical performance. They instructed the kids and their parents that “finding the way to create what
you want encourages us to go a little farther. It’s all about getting people to do a little more to find the music andart in ourselves.” Ants On A Log’s strategy is informed by their own experiences and translated to their songs. Bothartists are serious musicians in everyday life. Julie Beth is a music therapist and part of the band, Silverton, which
she noted would perform in Philly’s Fishtown section later in the week. Anya Rose studies Samba and performs
Open Hand: Bach, Bluegrass, and Brazil! They advised the kids to “do a job you love” and that their jobs bring themin touch with many people and many projects. Host Kathy added, “sitting in front of a microphone – that’s a goodjob, too! The duo wrote and composed a musical, “Curious: Think Outside the Pipeline” to help kids speak up whensomething isn’t right and to help them find their voice when they want to say, “Please take me seriously.” Musicand art articulate the things that others want to say. Sometimes people don’t hear what you’re saying unless youput it into a song.” Their play is offered for use in grade schools and other venues wishing to bring art into
environmental studies, clean energy and social justice.
Songs performed included: Pickles and Olives a responsible lunch packing song about using your own containers –like Tupperware instead of plastic bags to bring home pickles and olives from the supermarket and featured a singalong refrain; Some Girls Have Short Hair is a story that says that you can’t tell what a person likes by the length oftheir hair; The Kazoo Song recommends learning to play instruments by improvisation and learning online before
starting a kazoo band. The duo had CDs for purchase and offered a mailing list to stay in touch with their audience.
In FY18, WXPN will participate in the activity again. Plans include a live performance from a Kids Music band and an
in-studio interactive demonstration given by News and Sports Director, Bob Bumbera. In FY17 Bob was cited asrole model for the pre-demographic set in a March 2017 email to the station. Maria D. listens on WXPH. She wrote,“… I have a really cute story to share. I'm an XPN member and I have two young sons, ages 7 and 4. I was reminded
how much I have made XPN a part of their lives this morning. My husband and I were reading the sunday paper atthe breakfast table … when something made me perk up my ears. The 4 year-old said "Let’s pretend I'm Bob
Bumbera and I'm telling you about the XPN calendar" I thought it was the funniest thing ever and that you might
like to know that the next generation of listener/member is coming along quite nicely :)”Kids Corner’s Host Kathy O’Connell and Producer Robert Drake are frequently featured as guest hosts andpanelists at community events in Philadelphia’s arts and educational organizations. Their outreach also adds
awareness and exposure to the Kids Music genre and the artists working in this music arena. To foster their goal,
WXPN produces KindieComm. In FY18 KindiComm will be shared with a celebration of Kids Corner’s 30th
Anniversary concert at World Cafe Live Philadelphia (April 20-22, 2018). In response to the artists’ requests formore networking, the conference will include a KindieComm Song Share at the Sheraton Hotel on opening night. A
full itinerary of conference sessions is available on the website. Artists will be offered discounted tickets to attend
the Kids Corner 30th Anniversary Concert with headliner Trout Fishing in America performing on 4/22. Tickets tothe public will be sold separately. The 30th Anniversary Concert’s title sponsor is the Elmwood Park Zoo.
3. What impact did your key initiatives and partnerships have in your community? Describe any known measurable
impact, such as increased awareness, learning or understanding about particular issues. Describe indicators ofsuccess, such as connecting people to needed resources or strengthening conversational ties across diverse
neighborhoods. Did a partner see an increase in requests for related resources? Please include direct feedback
from a partner(s) or from a person(s) served.
WXPJ. In June 2016, WXPN completed the acquisition of 91.9FM and named the station WXPJ. Increased
listenership was realized in FY17. Given the demographics and socioeconomic profile of the residents in the area,
there is potential to increase our membership and business support for the station. WXPN installed a new antennain October 2016 (FY17) which has been redirected to broadcast further east, improving reception in Morris County,
NJ and in the Poconos area in Pennsylvania. The station’s marketing push included a separate concert calendar toaccommodate members and listeners in the area. We simulcast WXPJ 91.9 on 104.9 in North Whitehall Townshipto extend our regional marketing and sponsorship efforts. Sponsorship increased from FY17 into FY18.
Latin Roots Live Series. Getting new and diverse audiences involved as active listeners and members is central to
XPN’s mission of community outreach as is connecting artists and their audiences. The on-air and online series,
Latin Roots, made possible with a grant from the Wyncote Foundation has been featured on XPN’s World Cafe
program since 2012. The Latin Roots Live series, now in FY18 is in its third and final year of the grant from theWilliam Penn Foundation and continues to be produced by WXPN in partnership with AfroTaino Productions. The
series premiered in FY15 with a free show that was webcast. Since then, the Latin Roots Live Series has garnered a
Latino audience for performances. WXPN uses a team of staff and volunteers to greet this new audience and toencourage them to become part of the XPN family while collecting their names and email addresses to use tofurther these relationships. Results of this partnership in FY17 indicated growing awareness and connection in thecommunity. WXPN collected demographic information that confirmed our informal assessment that Latin Roots
Live is drawing younger, more ethnically diverse and many first-time audience members. Surveys taken following
every Latin Roots Live event (except the XPonential Festival) showed that the series drew many audience members
who had some familiarity with Latin Alternative music, but were generally new to the artists (75%) or the Latin
Roots Live series (63%). Surveys also showed that majorities of each event audience were interested in attending
future Latin Roots Live events (69%) or referring the series to a friend (87%). Anecdotally, we recognized, and thesurvey confirmed, that the concerts drew a much larger Hispanic audience than we receive at our typical concerts.

WXPN doubled the Hispanic/Latino audience goal of 15%, and surpassed by 2% our goal to draw a 40% audienceshare of those younger than 34. Anecdotally, XPN staff at the LRL shows could see this growth, with many moreyoung people than old, from many ethnic backgrounds.
Other measurable effects realized include the following:
Latin Roots Live concerts attracted an increased percentage of Latino audiences, 28% FY16, 30% in FY17,
The web (xpn.org, latinroots.org, vuhaus.org for post-concert videos and social media) was the most effective way
to reach series audiences – 50% of respondents named these sites. We invited key thought leaders, promoters andbloggers to our events.
Street teams effectively placed posters in targeted neighborhoods; grassroots or word of mouth from community
partners and friends accounted for one-third of the ways LRL audiences learn of the concerts.
The experience of producing Latin Roots Live has attuned WXPN on-air hosts to Latin Alternative artists, including
Philadelphia's own PhillyBloco and Alo Brasil. Latin Alternative artists now appear on other WXPN-FM playlist (TheFriday Funk, Sleepy Hollow, Folkadelphia).

XPN’s partnerships with local cultural organizations serving the Latino community included Taller
Puertorriqueño and the Mexican Cultural Center drawing partner audiences to the series events. XPN
has developed a strong partnership with AfroTaino Productions, through which the series artists were selected.

Latin Roots Live artist, Los Angeles-based psychedelic soul/funk/dance band Chicano Batman was featured at the
XPoNential festival, where the artists performed before crowds in the thousands.
WXPN’s programming staff grew more knowledgeable about Latin Alternative music, and the musical tastes of thediverse Latino/Hispanic community in Philadelphia, primarily through our continued work with AfroTaino
Productions and new partnership with the Mexican Cultural Center.
The concerts presented solely by XPN were recorded and several of the artists were featured on nationallysyndicated World Cafe. Several of the artists are featured on VuHaus.
Latin Roots Series Shows in FY17:
Nuevofest 2016, July 10 at FringeArts. XPN presented Nuevofest 2016 in partnership with Afrotaino Productions.
The festival closed out the annual Hispanic Fiesta on Penns Landing with the new sounds of Latin American musicwith concerts by iLe, Te Chamanas, Cartas A Felice, Calma Carmona, Sexy Zebras, QUITAPENAS and Gasolina. The
free, outdoor evening event at FringeArts drew a large crowd for a diverse lineup of bands from Madrid, Puerto
Rico, El Salvador, and Juarez. The Philly-based Gasolina DJ duo of DJ Precolumbian and Dame Luz supplied dancemusic between sets and warmed up the crowd with an hour-long mix. Estimated Combined Live Audience: 750
Chicano Batman, July 13 and 14, 2016 at the XPoNential Music Festival’s BB&T Pavilion and Wiggins Park. After
playing a packed show at the BB&T Pavilion as one of XPoNential Festival’s second day of headlining acts, Chicano
Batman returned to open day three of the fest with an afternoon performance at the Jerseyarts.com Marina Stagein Wiggins Park. WXPN discounted tickets to the day three show available to partner Taller Puertorriqueno.
Chicano Batman’s members are students of rhythm on a quest to reclaim and represent the musical roots of theirpast generations. They draw from a broad range of 60s and early 70s Brazilian bossa nova and samba, psychedelia,
slow-jam soul with a pinch of surf-rock cumbia. Estimated Live Audience (Two Performances, including theSaturday mainstage event): 7,000
Carla Morrison, October 4, 2016 at World Cafe Live. XPN partnered with the Mexican Cultural Center tosuccessfully promote this evening featuring Mexican singer-songwriter Carla Morrison. Winner of two Latin
Grammy awards, Morrison is one of Latin music’s leading independent artists, an imaginative songwriter andwonderfully expressive singer in both Spanish and English. Estimated Live Audience: 650
Edna Vazquez / Alejandro Y Maria Luna, November 17, 2016 at World Cafe Live. Edna Vazquez is a Portlandbased Latin American singer-songwriter who performs original compositions and transitions seamlessly between
folk, rock, pop and Mariachi, while exploring jazz stylings. Peruvian singer/songwriter duo Alejandro Y Maria Laurasing their unique take on the Spanish Pop genre. Their music has been featured on Latin American television
programs. Estimated Live Audience: 167
Gregorio Uribe Big Band, December 14, 2016 at World Cafe Live. After studying at Berklee College Of Music,
Colombian musician Gregorio Uribe moved to New York City and has since established the Gregorio Uribe Big
Band: a 16-piece ensemble that combines Colombian rhythms such as Cumbia and Chandé with funk and Jazz
arranging techniques. He has performed alongside Grammy winners Carlos Vives and Rubén Blades, and wasrecognized by the Government of Colombia as one of the “100 Most Outstanding Colombians Living Abroad.”
Estimated Live Audience: 594
Los Hacheros, February 9, 2017 at World Cafe Live. The Brooklyn-based six-piece band improvises and draws on avariety of influences to recreate a Caribbean sound. They revive folkloric styles like son montuno, guaracha andsalsa, and often combine them with Bomba, from the mountains of Puerto Rico. Estimated Live Audience: 435.
Ife, and the M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, April 24, 2017 at World Cafe Live. M.A.K.U. Soundsystem is a New York based
band with members mostly from Colombia. Their music carries reminders of Colombian Folklore, Psychedelic-rock,and Caribbean grooves. Their music is described as DIY and the sentiment of the Soundsystem is to put on a party
for everyday people with grooves full of emotion, spirit and humor. Estimated live audience: 360
Growth of XPN’s Latin Roots Live series continues to be an impetus for connection with the diverse community ofpeople who populate Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and nearby localities. In FY17, The Pew Center for Arts andHeritage awarded WXPN a grant to delve into a new project: The Gospel Roots of Rock & Soul. Pew awarded
WXPN two previous grants that helped the station explore the distinct sources that make up the diverse bedrockof modern American music: The Mississippi Blues Project and Zydeco Crossroads. The Gospel Roots of Rock &Soul launches in FY18. The scope and focus of the project are discussed in detail in Section 4 of this report.

4. Please describe any efforts (e.g. programming, production, engagement activities) you have made toinvestigate and/or meet the needs of minority and other diverse audiences (including, but not limited
to, new immigrants, people for whom English is a second language and illiterate adults) during Fiscal
Year 2017, and any plans you have made to meet the needs of these audiences during Fiscal Year 2018.
If you regularly broadcast in a language other than English, please note the language broadcast.

WXPN built on the success of many of the programs that were initiated to meet the needs of minority and otherdiverse audiences in FY18.
The World Cafe Next Campaign was designed to fund two key initiatives to be the drivers growing impact andaudience for the program in the years ahead. These initiatives were launched with the World Cafe 25th
anniversary series of events and programming highlighting new initiatives. The World Cafe Nashville Bureau now
serves as a Southern music hub bringing national exposure to emerging artists from the vibrant Nashville musicscene with Southern musical styles & new voices and locations. Our Latin Roots initiative is tied to these emerging
American sounds as is the World Cafe Travel Series, Sense of Place. The travel series examines the influence ofgeography and environment on artists and their work. New music is embraced by public media and their audiences
across the country. World Cafe will collaborate with NPR Music to conceptualize and produce new podcasts forWorld Cafe. In FY18 XPN is making an effort to increase the reach of World Cafe’s podcast. Some of the strategies
we are using to do this include cross promoting our show with other podcasts, generating unique content forWorld Cafe’s podcast and trying new marketing ideas. Performance video will be enhanced to create one-of-a-kindvideo experiences for NPR/VuHaus using new editorial formats.
Latin Roots. Latin Roots Live. WXPN’s nationally syndicated program World Cafe features the bi-weekly radio
series, Latin Roots that explores the vast variety of music from Spanish-speaking countries and people, fromcumbia, mambo and son to Latin rock, and others. The station’s community expanding Latin Roots Live drew
inspiration from the program. In Section 3 of this report, the shows presented in FY17 were reported. The
program continued to into the 3rd year in FY18 with live performances including Nuevofest at Fringe Arts in
Philadelphia (7/16/17), appearances at the annual XPoNential Festival with Chicano Batman and Xenia Rubinos(7/29/17) and Adia Victoria (7/30/17), and La Tribu DeAbrante and Combo Cimbita (10/29/17).
The Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul.
Do you feel like dancin? Then get up and let's start dancing; Start gettin the spirit, spirit in the darkAretha Franklin wrote and performed the song Spirit In The Dark on an album by the same name in 1970. She’s asojourner on the well-traveled road from the roots of gospel and soul. Seeds of the genre’s reach is everywhere
you listen. WXPN’s inspiration to research The Gospel roots that have cradled and nourished decades of Rock andSoul music spawned from earlier missions to expose and reveal essential but less commonly shared genres inBlues, Zydeco and Latin music. Gospel music so underpins the American musical vernacular that it shares bedrockwith contemporary music; there are many gospel grooves to explore. The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage
announced that the grant for the project was awarded to WXPN in FY17 on June 19, 2017. Since then, fieldresearch began in Memphis, Nashville and Philadelphia with a team assembled to compose the elements:
scheduling events and booking the artists that embody the genre’s origins in the reality of contemporarycommunities and churches, and setting the stage for a Gospel documentary. Six live concerts will celebrate theheritage and influence of the genre. Half of these will be performed in churches in Philadelphia. Three shows arebooked through the end of FY18. The website and on-air announcements as well as two screenings of the film,“How They Got Over” are scheduled for February 2018.
WXPN’s 4th Annual 5K Run for Musicians On Call. In Section 2 of this report, the addition of Bryn Mawr Hospital to
WXPN’s Musicians On Call program was reported. Fundraisers help the program thrive. On October 1, 2017
Subaru of America sponsored WXPN’s 4th Annual 5K for Musicians On Call. The annual race attracts members andlisteners as well as racing competitors and those who just want to participate in an excellent cause in and throughthe University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Park. Along the route, participants are encouraged and supported by XPN
volunteers. This successful annual fundraiser for the program that provides bedside performances from local
artists for patients in participating hospitals and their families is a smash. 700 people registered to walk and run.
Altogether $95,000 was grossed for the event from those who registered and sponsored. Subaru signed on as thepresenting sponsor of the event joining with a number of vital sponsors from medical institutions, among others,
including Team Rave On, a group of family and friends who ran as a memorial to a recently deceased WXPN
member, Andy Katz, who had been a volunteer in the program and later the program’s recipient as a patient at the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
KindieComm. Kids Corner’s Host Kathy O’Connell and Producer Robert Drake are frequently featured as guest
hosts and panelists at community events for kids and their families in Philadelphia’s arts and educationalorganizations. Their outreach also adds awareness and exposure to the Kids Music genre and the artists working inthis music arena. To foster their goal, WXPN produces KindieComm. In FY18 KindiComm will be shared with acelebration of Kids Corner’s 30th Anniversary concert at World Cafe Live Philadelphia (April 20-22, 2018). In
response to the artists’ requests for more networking, the conference will include a KindieComm Song Share at
the Sheraton Hotel on opening night. A full itinerary of conference sessions is available on the website. Artists will
be offered discounted tickets to attend the Kids Corner 30th Anniversary Concert with headliner Trout Fishing in
America performing on 4/22. Tickets to the public will be sold separately. The 30th Anniversary Concert’s title
sponsor is the Elmwood Park Zoo.
Sense of Place / Australia. The World Cafe team visit musical hotspots all around the globe for the show’s “Sense
of Place” series. In each city, the team captures the sights and sounds, records studio sessions with native
musicians, and interviews musical influencers to present them on the air and online extended features for eachcity. Past sessions are archived on World Cafe on NPR Music The Sense of Place series ties into the program’s
feature World Cafe Next. Each week, independent and emerging artists are featured and many of these artists
were recorded in the venues in the countries and cities visited by the World Cafe team for Sense of Place. In FY17,
World Cafe grew through a campaign for World Cafe Next to position World Cafe as the leading public media radiosource and digital destination for music discovery of emerging musicians by showcasing and end engaging withdiverse music communities. The campaign raised $1,000,000. World Cafe has digital presence on NPR.org,
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Tumblr. World Cafe Next both refers both refers to the program’s core
mission of exposing new artists and music to a national audience and XPN’s plan to make the future of World Cafe
as impactful as its past. Going forward World Cafe will build on its commitment to regional roots music, add new
voices and locations, expand its digital platform presence and impact, and draw on the strengths of WXPN andpublic radio music’s commitment to musical discovery. In FY17, Sense of Place visited Australia.
World Cafe Sense of Place – Australia 9/18-28/2016. In FY17, XPN World Cafe Host David Dye traveled with theprogram’s senior producer Kim Junod and WXPN General Manager Roger LaMay and 40 XPN members to continue
what’s become a World Cafe tradition of musical and cultural discovery, The World Cafe Travel Adventure Series.
The tour provided for sightseeing in Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. The focus of the international road trip is toexperience the musicians and their music in their country of origin. That sentiment is expanded on by Australia’s
Lachlan Macara. Macara and colleague Dave Ruby Howe run triple j radio’s music-discovery site. He was quoted
on the Sense of Place website, “Our main motto is that we love music – particularly new music, and particularly
Australian music.” Musical discovery is what the travel group found throughout the country. An overview of themusical itinerary begins in Melbourne. 9/21: interview and performance at Bakehouse Studios by Missy Higgins,
9/22 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizzard, then a Milk Records Showcase w/some of Courtney Barnett’s favorites:
Loose Tooth/Fraser A. Gorman/Jen Cloher; In Sydney on 9/25 Matt Corby for an interview and performance; 9/26

Middle Kids and Steve Kilbey of The Church. Peter Garrett performed on the final night of the tour. The passion
these artists have for their music is captured on the World Cafe Sense of Place website – Australia.
The successful program will continue. In FY18, the traveling team visited South Africa.
XPoNential Festival. The annual summer music Festival is the biggest event the station produces each year; every
department is involved. Besides providing a 3-day weekend of genuinely diverse entertainment, the Fest generates
opportunities to renew and deepen established partnerships, highlight relationships with sponsors, expose an
audience to vendors who inspire their interests and ideals. Like all the outreach events XPN espouses, XPoNentialbuilds on our bond with the community - exponentially. It also provides critical support to the artists who perform
for thousands over the course of the weekend. Live shows are the driving force for artists’ revenue. XPN’s
upcoming 2018 XPoNential Festival Saturday night headliner is Philadelphia’s own, and newly named Grammy
Award winning band, The War On Drugs. Early in their career, the band performed at XPoNential on the Marina
Stage in 2008. They were guests again on an early Friday evening, July 20, 2012 performing on the Festival’s River
Stage. Tri-State indie captured the excitement of seeing the burgeoning band as they gained audience
identification http://www.tristateindie.com/recap-the-war-on-drugs-at-xponential-festival/ Earlier that same
year, The War On Drugs performed in a stellar line-up at WXPN’s NPR Music Stage at the industry attended annual
conference 2012 Non-Commvention. This year the band will headline at the Festival’s BB&T Pavilion on Saturdaynight with Sturgill Simpson and The Preservation Jazz Hall Band. WXPN is awestruck with the band’s success andprominence. We’re not prescient, but we join the consensus of those who know a good thing when we hear it: The
War on Drugs had the most songs (3) in the top 10 on the XPN Top 50 Songs of 2017 Countdown. Grammy
nominee in the dance/electronic album category, Sylvan Esso will take the BB&T stage on Friday night with icon
and legend and, of course, former Grammy winner and 4-time nominee, David Bryne.
XPoNential’s successful partnership with Live Nation provides both a higher profile for WXPN and the XPoNential
Festival while providing an increased stream of revenue for artists. The station’s mission of connecting artists withaudiences is validated each year as an average 20 bands perform bringing a variety of sounds and artistic styles topeople who always report that they loved the band they came to see and learned that they needed what they
hadn’t known they were missing.
5. Please assess the impact that your CPB funding had on your ability to serve your community. What were youable to do with your grant that you wouldn't be able to do if you didn't receive it?
CPB funding helps to support WXPN’s general operations and gives us the opportunity to devote assets to seekother resources to help pay for new and creative initiatives and services. In FY17 WXPN received $607,561 from
CPB. The CSG grant represents 6.9% of the total station revenue. This funding is significant to all areas of thestations operations, and helps to enable the station to accomplish programming, membership, marketing,community engagement and digital expansion goals.
XPN connects with the community by distributing content through a variety of platforms: live streams,
archived/downloadable audio and video, and social media sites including The Key, VuHaus, Facebook, Twitter, andSpotify. XPN’s on-air and online audience includes public radio members and listeners, young adults, and kids whoare entertained and informed weeknights on Kids Corner. WXPN’s programs and services are continuing at
increasing levels and reaching a more diverse audience locally, nationally and internationally. Services like World
Cafe Sense of Place add to the diversity and inclusiveness of this audience. WXPN serves the community byproviding quality programming and technical advancement. We are making an impact in the flourishing digitalspace while furthering our terrestrial footprint and strengthening our relationship with our music-loving
community. In FY16, WXPN added 91.9FM to the terrestrial broadcast community. In FY17 A new antenna
generating a wider broadcast reach followed the station’s acquisition through counties in Northeastern New
Jersey. Also, a part-time marketing coordinator was hired from the locale to help XPN explore and grow in theregion, while providing information about WXPN to area businesses and residents to familiarize the community
with all that XPN has to offer. The acquisition of WXPJ, 91.9FM in Hackettstown, NJ intensified XPN’s mission tobuild the music community. This investment provides an opportunity to increase the station’s membership andsponsorship. Station events will focus on partners in the area in FY18. For instance, WXPN’s Community Partners
program was launched to work with non-profits that serve the WXPJ in Northern New Jersey. In October 2017 XPN
partnered with the Skylands Songwriters Guild, the Mayo Performing Arts Center, the Foodshed Alliance, theSherman Theater, Peter's Valley School of Craft, and One Step Closer Animal Rescue. We are offering each
community partner a one month underwriting schedule (3 spots a day, Monday-Friday for 4 weeks); in exchangethey are providing opportunities for XPN to reach out to their audiences. The partners link XPN on their websites
and e-newsletters and XPN promotional materials are distributed to local businesses. Partners are named in XPN enewsletter, provided with spots including the local Morristown Winter Farmer's Market and the upcoming Peter'sValley School of Craft’s Creative Rush 5k (spring 2018). Each partner’s agreement varies based on their products,
services and number of people in their outreach. These community partnership spots will result in a more local
listener experience. These marketing assets are expected to gain new listeners to the station.
Even with an effective fundraising track record, a decrease in CPB funding could have an impact on the number
and duration of on-air fund drives we conduct annually. XPN’s Sustaining Membership program is very strong; 71%of members are sustainers. The Sustainers program is very healthy, but since growing dollars does not necessarilytranslate into growing member numbers, WXPN is focused on adding new members on all premium levels. XPN’s
successful membership program does not guarantee financial stability, and without support from CPB, WXPN
would be forced to take a hard look at the specific programs and services that it offers, and to consider cutbacks insome of the high-quality programming and marketing efforts to engage with the community that support our
mission as discussed throughout this report. The elimination of CPB funding would have a substantial negative
impact and threaten our ability to continue to produce quality programs that serve our listenership. Without CPB
funding, technical growth and upgrades - which improve our communication with our audiences on every level:
through radio broadcasts, on digital platforms, and at community events, could not be implemented with the samelevels of excellence and competency, and would inhibit our expansion and ability to provide these services to newareas – and that would be a great loss for the audience we serve and for the progression of innovation at XPN’score. CPB funding allows WXPN opportunities to initiate and produce new original programming and to engage
with the artists and audiences in our diversifying community. As the station evolves as a national leader, redefining
radio as on-air, online and onstage in the new, dynamic music environment, CPB funding is vital to the station’s
goals of continued creativity and connection.
A leader in the local and national music community, XPN seeks to enhance the station’s insight and response to thecommunity. As we develop our Customer Relations Management (CRM) capability we will be able to know withgreater accuracy the composition of our event audiences. Shared characteristics like age, race and gender as well
as more specific qualities like event preferences and attendance behaviors will be gathered from listeners’comments. In FY18 we are in the implementation phase of our station-wide project to integrate data between
departments with Salesforce and implementation partner, Candoris. The system consolidates the work of thecurrent database and various tracking methods into a single source. The process of assessing information to build
CRM ensured that departments will benefit from more detailed and precise metrics and dashboard records.
XPN’s national efforts are connected to localism. WXPN co-founded the music video service, VuHaus to feature
curated channels of local artists. The website adds to the strength of local public media and is providing moresponsorship opportunities as the service grows in number of station collaborators. VuHaus tied into station events2017 XPoNential Festival, Non-Commvention and Latin Roots Live projects. This exposure helps to boost theawareness of local, heritage and emerging artists. In FY18 the number of VuHaus stations grew to 24. The service
sought additional opportunities for station exposure that would build on the awareness it was establishing withaudiences. They also sought to signal the music industry of the significant connections VuHaus was creating
between artists and these audiences.
Slingshot became the project with a unique approach that drew from the power of public radio’s collaborating
stations in partnership with NPR Music to provide exposure for selected emerging artists beyond the limits of theirlocal station’s reach. Stations pooled together to choose their favorite emerging artists, and the pool grew as 3
bands were added each month. In the first phase, three 2017 Slingshot artists emerged from 50+ contestantschosen from participating VuHaus stations: Big Thief, Jamila Woods and LoMoon. These artists, backed by theservice, performed throughout the country while stations conducted interviews, recorded their live performancesfor video, on-air and on NPR.org/Slingshot
The goal of this project is to demonstrate and leverage the impact of stations on musical discovery and it continues
in 2018 with some sponsorship developing around the project. As interest and participation in Slingshot grow, theproject realizes additional assets for listeners, stations and artists. Artists chosen for the project are matched withstation and NPR Music joint assets such as World Cafe and Tiny Desk Concerts and WXPN’s Free At Noon and Latin
Roots Live series. In FY18, 50 Slingshot artists will be picked from the compiled list, 10 of these will be highlighted
as Slingshot Artist of the Month. Five additional artists will be added for 10 months providing for greater diversity
included on stations’ formats in addition to creating a bigger digital component.

Really good programming is at the heart of all we do. In Section 1 we stated, “As each new project is considered
we ask ourselves, “what’s the radio, what’s the digital, what’s the event.” It is worthwhile to restate the maxim.
We’ve taken winning themes and only reintroduced them fine-tuned and impactful. New radio experiences also
help WXPN to enjoy surprising, entertaining and connecting with our audience.
#XPNAtoZ 70s Style. Building on the success of WXPN’s 2-week+ long #XPNAtoZ in FY17 (described in Section 1 ofthis report), the special feature was produced again in FY18 with support from Rutgers University Camden and MDAnderson Cancer Center. This time, the sounds of the 70s decade: Prog-Rock, Punk, Soul, Rock, Disco, Jazz, Country
and New Wave hit the airwaves to show why it was the greatest decade in music – as voted on by WXPN listeners
during our ‘15 Greatest Year In Music event.