KOSU Partners with StoryCorps to foster conversations across US ideological divides
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Media Contact: Rachel Hubbard | KOSU executive director | 405-896-4324 | rachel@kosu.org
Talking and listening is the best way to reunite a sorely divided America. In a partnership with StoryCorps, KOSU is inviting people across Oklahoma to take part in meaningful conversations being recorded for history.
With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Oklahoma is one of six
locations across the country selected to take part in StoryCorps’ nationwide One Small
Step initiative to facilitate and broadcast conversations with Americans of opposing
viewpoints. With participant permission, these conversations are preserved for future
generations at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps
is a national nonprofit dedicated to recording and preserving personal stories,
KOSU plans to broadcast edited versions of some of the Oklahoma submissions.
“After a year of isolation and division, it’s time to remember what we have in common.
At KOSU, we are honored to facilitate these conversations,” said Rachel Hubbard, KOSU
executive director. “It is important to us that all Oklahomans feel heard and valued,
no matter their life experiences or what shaped them.”
Dave Isay, founder and president of StoryCorps, agrees.
“Recent polls demonstrate what most of us have already experienced first-hand: that there is a pervasive culture of contempt that threatens the very foundations of our democracy,” he said. “According to a CBS News poll released earlier this year, more than half of all Americans say the greatest danger to America's way of life comes from their fellow citizens. One Small Step aims to remind people of the humanity in all of us and that it’s hard to hate up close. These communities can model this change for the rest of the country.”
President and CEO Patricia Harrison said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is very pleased to support this effort.
"StoryCorps uses its innovative approach to sharing stories in its One Small Step
Communities initiative to foster understanding and respect, even among people who
deeply disagree,” she said. “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, One
Small Step is a national initiative that pairs two strangers who hold different views
in facilitated and recorded conversations to counteract intensifying hostility and
enable those who disagree to listen to each other with respect.
Rather than spark additional partisan debates, One Small Step encourages answers to
questions such as, “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?”
KOSU encourages Oklahoma residents to take part in this limited-time opportunity:
• Information about how to participate is at kosu.org/onesmallstep.
• To accommodate participant comfort levels with in-person recording sessions, KOSU
may use StoryCorps’ remote recording platform over video.
KOSU will also team up with a variety of community organizations to spread the word
and collaborate with StoryCorps to match participants and record conversations through
the end of the year. The project will include a series of public listening events,
streamed online, in fall 2021. Find out how your organization can partner with KOSU
at kosu.org/onesmallstep.
KOSU’s participation in the One Small Step Communities project is made possible by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. StoryCorps' national 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.
About KOSU
KOSU is a public radio service of Oklahoma State University and a member station of
National Public Radio. Its programming can be heard by more than 91,000 on-air listeners
every week in central, northern and northeastern Oklahoma, parts of Kansas, Missouri
and Arkansas and worldwide at kosu.org.
About StoryCorps
Founded in 2003 by Dave Isay, StoryCorps has given people of all backgrounds and beliefs
in thousands of towns and cities in all 50 states the chance to record interviews
about their lives. The 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 stories reflect the vast range of American experiences, wisdom and
values; 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 the organization has
transformed into a traveling recording booth, crisscrosses the country year-round
to gather the stories of people nationwide. StoryBooths are also located in Chicago
and Atlanta.
With the 2015 TED Prize awarded to Dave Isay, StoryCorps launched a free mobile app
that puts the StoryCorps experience entirely in the hands of users and enables anyone,
anywhere to record meaningful conversations with another person and upload the audio
to the Library of Congress. The StoryCorps app serves as the facilitator, guiding
users through the interview experience, from recording to archiving to sharing their
stories with the world. It provides easy-to-use tools to help people prepare interview
questions; record high-quality conversations on their mobile devices; and upload the
audio to archive.storycorps.org which serves as a home for these recordings and also
provides interview and editing resources.
StoryCorps recently launched StoryCorps Connect, a new video-based platform that makes
it possible for two people in different locations to conduct a StoryCorps interview
safely and remotely.
After recording a StoryCorps conversation via any of these methods, participants are
emailed a link to their interview and a digital file goes to the Library of Congress
to be preserved for generations to come.
StoryCorps is a national institution that fosters a culture of listening in the United
States; celebrates the dignity, power and grace that can be heard in the stories we
find all around us; and helps us recognize that every life and every story matters
equally. In the coming years, StoryCorps hopes to touch the lives of every American
family.
About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created
by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public
broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally managed and
operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest
single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public
radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for other updates.