Laurie McGraw is speaking with the Inspiring Women pioneers of public radio Breeze Richardson and Marty Durlin. These special interviews were aired on KGNU’s It’s the Economy and highlight the importance of public radio. Both Marty and Breeze provide their reasons for coming into public radio – the true town square, the opportunity for storytelling and creative expression and the ability for anyone and any walk of life to tell their stories that are relevant and speak to the concerns and triumphs of people in the community.
The world of social media, podcasting, and digital media has long changed the game of where and how people get their information. And yet, people still listen and tune into community radio. Marty and Breeze know why and share how providing authentic and relevant voices and great story telling stands the test of time.
About Marty:
A pioneer in community radio, Marty Durlin came to KZYX after serving as manager of KZMU in Moab UT. Her longest tenure was at KGNU in Boulder CO, where she helmed the station for more than 20 years, cofounded the Grassroots Radio Conference and served as chair of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the Pacifica National Board, and the Rocky Mountain Community Radio Coalition. Also a print and radio journalist and a musical playwright, Durlin has spent her career in community media and community theatre.
About Breeze:
Breeze joined the Aspen Public Radio team in June 2021. Highly-respected in public media for her strategic planning and communications background, she has a passion for telling stories and producing community-focused programming. Since arriving in the Roaring Fork Valley, Breeze has been on stage exploring disability and inclusion with 1A’s Jenn White, discussing the importance of local journalism for Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, and in conversation with Tockukwu Okafor , Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, and 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize winner Jamil Jan Kochai for Aspen Words. In February 2023, she took the stage at the Wheeler Opera House with NPR's Ailsa Chang to lead a conversation about making big career changes, representation in media, and the impact of investigative journalism.
Breeze currently serves as President of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio coalition, and is an elected member of the Western States Public Radio Board of Directors. In 2024, she completed the Public Media Diversity Leaders Initiative (PMDLI) hosted by the Riley Institute at Furman University, and is a proud alumni of the Aspen Institute Hurst Leaders Forum.
Before returning to public radio, Breeze worked as director of marketing and communications at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and from 2013-2017 she worked for the Kansas Board of Regents, gaining extensive experience in state government communications and higher education while serving as the agency’s public information officer.
[00:00:00] I think it offers so much autonomy for people. I mean, you can really do anything on community radio, pretty much. You know, we had a schlock fest every year for a long time.
[00:00:13] Schlock fest.
[00:00:13] Schlock fest. We produced a weekly live soap opera called Actual Passion. That was so much fun.
[00:00:26] That sounds racy.
[00:00:28] It was. Oh.
[00:00:31] You know, and again, it was a joint collaborative thing and we all came together, theater people and just people off the street, basically.
[00:00:41] And, you know, any crazy idea, you can put it into action and you'll find that a lot of other people appreciate it as well.
[00:00:49] All the goofy stuff and the political stuff that may have been way too left for some other medium, you know, we broadcast it.
[00:01:01] And I just love that part of community radio as well.
[00:01:07] This is Inspiring Women and I'm Laurie McGraw. And today we're doing a special conversation.
[00:01:18] We're at the KGNU studio and we thought it'd be great to speak with some of the inspiring women of community radio.
[00:01:26] And I am delighted to be speaking with Marty Durlin today.
[00:01:30] Marty, thank you for being on Inspiring Women.
[00:01:33] Well, thank you for having me.
[00:01:36] All right. Well, let's just dive into it.
[00:01:38] So, Marty, how long have you been in the space of community radio?
[00:01:44] Well, I started in 1972.
[00:01:48] So 52 years.
[00:01:50] So your background says pioneer.
[00:01:55] Yes.
[00:01:56] You're a pioneer.
[00:01:57] That's what it says.
[00:01:59] Yeah, I started at KCFR when it was KCFR in Denver before it became Colorado Public Radio and covered the state.
[00:02:08] And at that time, it was a small community station.
[00:02:12] And that was my first experience.
[00:02:14] I was there for three years as a volunteer.
[00:02:17] And I briefly also worked there as the traffic manager.
[00:02:23] And, you know, I went to the NPR, some of the early NPR conferences in Washington.
[00:02:29] And that was the beginning of it.
[00:02:32] Well, it's been a long time.
[00:02:34] Why?
[00:02:35] What drew you to it?
[00:02:36] What drew you to it?
[00:02:37] And then what kept you there all of these years?
[00:02:40] Well, I as a child, I wanted to be a writer.
[00:02:46] And so I was always expressing myself in some way.
[00:02:51] I wrote poetry and short stories and songs.
[00:02:54] And that's something that's a through line all through my life.
[00:02:59] Also plays, where I cast my cousins and neighbors and that kind of thing.
[00:03:06] And I had just had a child, my older daughter, who ended up doing community radio as well.
[00:03:15] Allie Lightfoot was a baby.
[00:03:19] She was born in 71.
[00:03:20] And I was sitting at home with the baby.
[00:03:23] And my husband was out working at a tedious job.
[00:03:27] And I just wanted to talk to somebody.
[00:03:31] I wanted to express myself.
[00:03:33] And I started listening to commercial talk radio.
[00:03:37] And I tried to get a job with them.
[00:03:41] And they basically weren't interested in me for any reason whatsoever.
[00:03:47] And I also, well, that's a different story.
[00:03:51] I also turned down other places.
[00:03:54] Anyway, so I ended up going to the KCFR studio,
[00:04:01] which was right around the University of Denver, where I was living.
[00:04:06] And, you know, I walked in the door and said, I want to do something.
[00:04:10] And they were like, welcome.
[00:04:12] Hey, come on in.
[00:04:13] Let's have fun.
[00:04:15] Let's do it.
[00:04:16] So it gave me an entree.
[00:04:18] I just wanted to express myself and have it be a circle.
[00:04:25] You know, you can be a writer and write for ages and you never get any input back until
[00:04:31] it's published or the play is produced or, you know, the poetry reading finally comes up
[00:04:37] or whatever.
[00:04:38] So that's really what drew me to it was sort of First Amendment speech expression issues.
[00:04:47] Well, community radio has such an important place in terms of providing information,
[00:04:56] information from a lot of different perspectives.
[00:04:59] And, you know, from those early days of a couple turn, you know, being turned away.
[00:05:04] I mean, Marty, you certainly have taken it to, you know, new heights.
[00:05:08] You've led KDNU at the helm of it for 20 years.
[00:05:11] You are very well known in the circles of community radio.
[00:05:16] Why is it such an important medium?
[00:05:19] Why is community radio something that we should invest in?
[00:05:23] Why it's important to have, especially with all of these different choices that people
[00:05:28] are bombarded with today for getting content?
[00:05:32] Well, in the day when I got involved in it, it was one of the few ways that normal citizens
[00:05:40] could be involved, could become the media, could have their voices, could, could.
[00:05:46] I mean, now, like Liz has been on for a million years at KGNU.
[00:05:51] And it's, you know, it's something that can happen for ordinary people while they carry
[00:05:57] on the rest of their lives.
[00:06:00] I, you know, I could have gone the, quote, public radio way, the more professional,
[00:06:07] the paid way, the NPR way.
[00:06:09] I started early enough that I could have made progress in that field.
[00:06:14] I just, that just wasn't of interest to me.
[00:06:18] I was always wanting to know who would walk in the door and have a great idea for a program.
[00:06:25] I, I've always been interested in empowering people to have a voice.
[00:06:30] And I think part of it is a First Amendment kind of a feeling.
[00:06:36] And the other is, is out of, out of being an artist, a writer, you know, just giving people
[00:06:44] a way to express themselves in a, in a mass medium.
[00:06:50] And so that was kind of it then.
[00:06:53] Now we have, of course, we have podcasting, we have all kinds of internet options, you know,
[00:07:01] from social media to, to, well, everything.
[00:07:06] To everything.
[00:07:07] To everything.
[00:07:08] So it isn't, you know, it's become more of a, it's not as rare the opportunity as it used
[00:07:16] to be.
[00:07:17] But that's, that's why it was important to me.
[00:07:20] And I just thought the people were a lot more interesting in community radio than in.
[00:07:25] Well, they certainly, the voices come from everywhere.
[00:07:27] And you were referencing Liz, that's Liz Lane.
[00:07:30] She is the producer of it.
[00:07:32] KGNU's It's the Economy.
[00:07:34] That's the actual program that this episode is airing on.
[00:07:38] And I've appreciated the opportunity to share and lift up the voices of incredible women.
[00:07:43] I think it offers so much autonomy for people.
[00:07:47] I mean, you can really do anything on community radio pretty much.
[00:07:52] You know, we had a schlock fest every year for a long time.
[00:07:56] Schlock fest.
[00:07:57] Schlock fest.
[00:07:58] We had a, we produced a weekly live soap opera called Actual Passion.
[00:08:07] That was so much fun.
[00:08:10] That sounds racy.
[00:08:12] It was.
[00:08:13] It was.
[00:08:13] Oh.
[00:08:15] You know, and where, again, it was a joint collaborative thing.
[00:08:19] And we all came together, theater people and just people kind of off the street, basically.
[00:08:25] And, you know, any crazy idea, you can put it into action.
[00:08:29] And you'll find that a lot of other people appreciate it as well.
[00:08:33] All the goofy stuff and the political stuff that may have been way too left for some other
[00:08:42] medium.
[00:08:43] You know, we broadcast it.
[00:08:45] And I just love that part of community radio as well.
[00:08:51] Just given, you know, Marty, your long tenure, 50 plus years in this space of community radio
[00:08:58] as not just a content creator, but not just a voice, but also running stations.
[00:09:04] I just love your perspective on, you know, being a woman at the helm of many of those things that
[00:09:09] you did where you won a few, one of only.
[00:09:12] Is community radio a welcome space for women in terms of both having careers there, but also
[00:09:19] in terms of advancing issues as it relates to women?
[00:09:23] Oh, I think so.
[00:09:25] Yes.
[00:09:25] I mean, I think when they, when I was first chosen to lead KGNU, which would have been 88,
[00:09:34] 87, I think 87.
[00:09:37] Somebody told me that the board decided one of the reasons they wanted to hire me was to
[00:09:44] have a woman at the helm, to give a woman a chance at the helm.
[00:09:48] I'm not sure if that was true.
[00:09:50] I don't know that.
[00:09:53] And it was a bit rare when I first started.
[00:09:58] Then it became extremely common in community radio that an awful lot of general managers
[00:10:06] are now women.
[00:10:10] And, you know, that's a big change.
[00:10:14] I think people saw it as a good job for a woman because it's a balance of being highly
[00:10:20] organized and, you know, leading in a fairly, I don't want to say commanding way, but you,
[00:10:30] you really have to steer these organizations to, to an extent.
[00:10:35] And, and this kind of open door, giving everybody a chance.
[00:10:41] It's kind of a, a balance between the yin and the yang and, and, and, in a, in an unusual management
[00:10:51] situation.
[00:10:52] People do it differently, but, you know, people choose different ways to manage.
[00:10:57] And I, I really like to manage collaboratively.
[00:11:02] I want to have the buck stop somewhere.
[00:11:05] You have to have a leader.
[00:11:06] You have to have a captain.
[00:11:07] But I like to hear other people's opinions.
[00:11:10] I like to get input from all sides.
[00:11:13] And I worked a lot by committee, formed a zillion committees at, at KGNU.
[00:11:19] And that helped us to do more ultimately.
[00:11:22] But I had to, I always felt I had to serve on every committee because somebody had to be
[00:11:28] the spoke connector.
[00:11:30] That sounds exhausting.
[00:11:32] Well, it was in a way, but when, you know, there's a certain point where synergy takes
[00:11:39] over.
[00:11:39] And I remember when we hosted the first grassroots radio conference, that conference is still
[00:11:46] going.
[00:11:47] Yes.
[00:11:47] Kathy Melio and I started that in the nineties.
[00:11:52] I really didn't do anything.
[00:11:54] I just, I said, we're going to do this.
[00:11:57] KGNU is going to do this.
[00:11:58] And as if by magic, it happened.
[00:12:02] And I, I just kind of skated on the top of it.
[00:12:06] You know, I really didn't have to do much.
[00:12:09] So I, I, I saw that happen over and over again at, at KGNU.
[00:12:16] Well, Marty, for someone who has dedicated their career and a good, you know, portion of your
[00:12:22] entire life, um, to community radio, I'd love for you to just close this out with, you know,
[00:12:28] why is it important?
[00:12:29] Why is community radio important?
[00:12:32] Why should we care?
[00:12:33] Why should we invest in it?
[00:12:35] This is the KGNU fall fund drive.
[00:12:37] And I just, um, appreciate your comments on that.
[00:12:40] Well, it's really the last bastion of citizen input into the media.
[00:12:45] I mean, uh, you know, except for podcasting, except for social media, it's still, um, one
[00:12:55] of the ways to reach, uh, a lot of people in a moment.
[00:13:01] It's important for, uh, emergencies, obviously still in all of our communities and during fires
[00:13:08] and all the climate change incidents that we're enduring.
[00:13:13] So there's that, and you can, you can reach your community in a second and, uh, you don't
[00:13:18] need, you really don't need electricity at home.
[00:13:21] You know, you can, you can get it.
[00:13:24] Um, I think it's still important that way.
[00:13:27] I think it's, it's still a place for voices that are not mainstream for people who do not
[00:13:35] have money to be a part of a medium who maybe don't have the education, but are brilliant
[00:13:43] on the air.
[00:13:43] It's still an opportunity for people to do that.
[00:13:47] Um, I still believe in it.
[00:13:50] I, I think it's, uh, I think it's still valid and important and an, and an opportunity for
[00:13:57] a lot of people to offer this kind of expression, whether it's political content or music or, uh,
[00:14:05] just talking about how we live our lives and new ideas can bubble there.
[00:14:11] And of course, in the early days, a lot of people started in community or college radio
[00:14:16] and ended up on NPR.
[00:14:18] So it's also, uh, uh, you know, a training ground for new voices and new talents for,
[00:14:25] for larger scale media.
[00:14:28] It's efficient, you know, um, everyone puts a little bit in and you can run this, this
[00:14:35] big operation year after year after year as, as of course KGNU has done.
[00:14:42] Well, I think that it's been, um, fantastic just Marty to hear your through line in terms
[00:14:49] of why you actually got into community radio in the first place.
[00:14:52] Um, all your years of dedicated leadership for continuing and leading the medium, bringing
[00:14:58] that leadership, that bringing together of consensus with people that you've worked with.
[00:15:03] And I've really appreciated this conversation.
[00:15:05] I've been speaking to Marty Durlin on this special episode of inspiring women for KGNU
[00:15:11] and Marty, thank you so much.
[00:15:14] You're welcome, Laurie.
[00:15:16] Thanks.
[00:15:18] This is inspiring women and I'm Laurie McGraw.
[00:15:21] And we are doing a special episode of inspiring women for KGNU.
[00:15:26] And we're talking to inspiring women in the area of community radio.
[00:15:30] So I am ecstatic to actually be talking to Breeze Richardson.
[00:15:34] She's the executive director of Aspen public radio.
[00:15:38] She has, uh, been in the area of storytelling, community radio and the like for many years.
[00:15:45] Breeze, thank you for being on inspiring women.
[00:15:48] Oh, you're so welcome.
[00:15:49] I'm happy to be here with you today.
[00:15:51] Well, Breeze, why don't we just get started and tell us a bit about sort of what you do,
[00:15:56] what your job is today, and then, you know, where it all started in community radio.
[00:16:01] Sure.
[00:16:01] Well, I spend my days as the executive director of a small, uh, independent public radio station,
[00:16:07] Aspen public radio here in the Roaring Fork Valley on the Western slope of Colorado.
[00:16:11] And I also serve as the president of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio Coalition, which is a network of over 20 nonprofit radio stations, 16 of which are here in Colorado,
[00:16:22] which has been around since the 80s.
[00:16:24] The started sharing content by recording it on cassette and sending it to each other.
[00:16:28] And nowadays we have Slack and staff.
[00:16:32] We've hired collectively a state house reporter that, uh, helps us in the rural parts of the state get access to what's happening in the state house,
[00:16:39] but also a managing editor and a digital editor that helps take our story segments that might be, um, really relevant here,
[00:16:46] but also to other communities across the Western slope and, and make that content more easily shareable.
[00:16:52] Um, it's one of the highlights of my work and I think really brings diversity and additional viewpoints into what our listeners get here on the air every day.
[00:17:00] Breeze, as you think about your, um, career in this space, you've, how long have you been,
[00:17:06] how long have you been in this area of working in whether it's storytelling, programming, public radio, how, how, how long?
[00:17:14] Yeah, a little over 20 years.
[00:17:16] 20 years.
[00:17:16] Okay.
[00:17:17] So a while.
[00:17:18] And you joined at a time where public radio, um, was sort of like, you know, not at the, I would just say top of the heap in terms of,
[00:17:26] you know, what was available mediums for communicating.
[00:17:30] So why did you join way back then?
[00:17:32] What was important to go into this aspect of media?
[00:17:37] Sure.
[00:17:37] I was definitely a community activist in college.
[00:17:40] And, and even before that, um, my undergraduate degrees are in American studies,
[00:17:45] really focused on community development and how communities organize themselves.
[00:17:49] I also have a degree in economics and I went to get my master's degree.
[00:17:53] Well, this is a, this is the, it's the economy show.
[00:17:55] So this is perfect.
[00:17:58] Public policy was really what was pulling on my heartstrings.
[00:18:01] I really saw public policy, something I didn't really know what that meant, uh,
[00:18:05] in the early aughts when an advisor in the economics department recommended that I look into it
[00:18:10] and realizing that there was an educational pathway that was connected to how communities are formed and,
[00:18:16] and what rules we write to govern, how we'll spend money, collect money, address social services, uh,
[00:18:24] further and advance things that make our, our community successful.
[00:18:27] Um, that's what I wanted to do.
[00:18:29] So I went to the university of Chicago to get my master's in public policy.
[00:18:33] And while I was there, um, for the first time, I was really living in a community, uh,
[00:18:38] the universities on the South part of the town, I was living in the North part of the city and public radio was keeping me company.
[00:18:45] As I commuted across, uh, Chicago each day,
[00:18:48] I found it to be a place where a really diverse political landscape all found trust.
[00:18:54] And that was really important to me.
[00:18:56] So there were fellow activists who listened to WBEZ and trusted those morning programs and midday programs,
[00:19:04] you know, especially when it came to local news.
[00:19:06] And there were also politicians and, and those who were, I would say from the other side of the aisle, uh,
[00:19:13] in my view book that were also tuning into WBEZ and going on the shows and giving interviews.
[00:19:18] And I saw it as this place, this public square, if you will, that folks were willing to engage with.
[00:19:24] That they were willing to participate as, as, uh, voices and they were willing to listen as consumers.
[00:19:30] And I think the power of the human voice is just amazing.
[00:19:35] Um, not to knock print media and everything it does for our communities,
[00:19:39] but when you read a quote from a five-year-old child or a 92-year-old grandmother,
[00:19:44] it's just that it's words on a page.
[00:19:46] But when you hear that accented voice telling you that story,
[00:19:50] or you hear the wonder of that young person asking that question,
[00:19:54] I just think it's amazing.
[00:19:56] And so I went on from there to really support the infrastructure
[00:20:01] that would make public radio, community radio stations thrive.
[00:20:05] Um, so I went to WBEZ and I was there for over a decade before I moved on and found my way to Colorado.
[00:20:11] Well, I'd love to sort of double click and dive into a little bit, you know, your, uh, the public square comment that you made,
[00:20:18] um, because I think that, you know, we've heard that used quite literally for, um, the social media platforms that are out there.
[00:20:26] And I think, um, while they have been having a heyday of it, if you will, um,
[00:20:32] the public square aspect has not proven, um, to be quite helpful.
[00:20:37] Actually, it's proven to be quite detrimental.
[00:20:39] So I'd love for you to just comment on sort of, you know, I mean, I feel like it's a, it's, it's, it's almost service.
[00:20:46] It's public service to be in community radio.
[00:20:49] So maybe you could just talk about, um, that importance and how perhaps it does, um, maybe a better job of, of representing what people are really thinking, doing,
[00:21:01] how it influences and perhaps is a better choice, um, for that public square than I would say, you know, the social media options that are out there.
[00:21:12] Social media definitely came to, into being in my career in this space.
[00:21:19] And I think there are some things about it, even to this day that are really special.
[00:21:24] You know, I'm a contemporary quilter and a community like that, that, that might have a dozen or so people who practice your craft and you're in real life space.
[00:21:34] You can be connected to people around the country and across the globe that share a passion like that.
[00:21:41] Um, quilting is a really visual medium.
[00:21:43] And so being able to see that pattern or that stitch or that choice of fabric, um, was really an amazing thing that social media creates.
[00:21:50] But I'd say what its strength is also its detriment.
[00:21:54] Um, you get to choose who you listen to.
[00:21:57] And over time, now that we've had these platforms for over a decade, there really is an opportunity for you to filter and limit who you hear from.
[00:22:05] And I don't think that's the public square.
[00:22:08] I think the public square has a real multitude of voices.
[00:22:11] It's, it's in no way a monolith.
[00:22:13] So it's incumbent upon us as producers and hosts and reporters and those of us who are in these spaces to find those diversities of viewpoints and bring them to that shared space.
[00:22:26] So that's what I think public radio and community radio does so well.
[00:22:30] You know, whether it's a community access model where literally anyone can have a show, come learn how to use the equipment and, you know, share your thoughts and ideas and passions and interests.
[00:22:41] Um, or it can be in a more professional space.
[00:22:44] You know, I think it's a point of pride when people say to us here at our station that they can't really tell the difference between a national morning edition story and a story that was locally produced by one of our reporters.
[00:22:55] Um, and so I think it's all of the in between.
[00:22:58] And so it's incumbent upon us, like I said, to go make sure we're seeking out that diversity.
[00:23:04] And that's what allows us then, um, especially in a, a short format, right?
[00:23:10] A segment D in morning edition is, you know, we call it in the business is a little over four and a half minutes.
[00:23:16] Uh, new research out of NPR is suggesting that listeners want more content in the morning.
[00:23:22] So the network has made a pledge to have no feature story, no more than one feature story an hour.
[00:23:29] That's more than five minutes long.
[00:23:30] Um, I think that really gets to the in and out nature of our daily lives and routines.
[00:23:36] So many people have radio on as they're doing other things, whether it's getting, it's ready or, you know, taking a drive somewhere.
[00:23:44] Um, but it, it fluidly fitting in and out of your life means that, uh, we don't necessarily expect to hold your attention safe for a full hour.
[00:23:53] Well, also, and just like filling, filling the airwaves with content that matters and stories that matters.
[00:23:59] There's a power in that.
[00:24:00] So I love that description.
[00:24:02] Breeze, this is inspiring women and you have been an inspiring woman in the area of community radio for 20 years.
[00:24:08] You're a leader and you're an important voice as you think about, um, just advice you might give to other younger women, perhaps as to why they might pursue this as a career option, a place to put their efforts.
[00:24:24] What would you say to them?
[00:24:27] Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that, uh, this weekend we closed out our listener survey over 300 people.
[00:24:34] Every fall we turned to that audience and asked, uh, what are we doing?
[00:24:38] Right.
[00:24:38] What could we do better?
[00:24:39] Um, what do you want more of?
[00:24:41] What do you want less of?
[00:24:42] And as I was going through those answers, um, upon closing, uh, the survey, I just feel so grateful that individuals took the time to say what they want.
[00:24:53] And I feel it's incumbent upon me to deliver.
[00:24:55] Um, so I see this as a space and it's really empowering to me that it's a space that isn't taking direction from on high, um, isn't being driven by a profit motive of, you know, where can we cut?
[00:25:07] Um, we've faced some pretty significant cost increases, uh, in healthcare costs among others here at our station this year.
[00:25:15] And we're not going to do less work because of that.
[00:25:19] That is never even been on the table as a way to handle that challenge.
[00:25:23] Um, quite the opposite.
[00:25:25] It's making us think more creatively about how we can talk with philanthropists and municipalities and others who we've relied on to support the station to say, this is what our commitment is.
[00:25:37] It's driven by what the community wants.
[00:25:39] Here's where we're getting that information.
[00:25:41] And I want to be in a role in that's, uh, in my community, that's influencing it like that.
[00:25:48] That's crowdsourcing ideas and requests and wants and delivering on them.
[00:25:52] I think content creation is an amazing way to spend your, your time.
[00:25:57] No two days look the same.
[00:25:59] You know, we have another, uh, good example is a very contentious ballot issue here in the Roaring Fork Valley.
[00:26:04] And nobody was really willing to stand up and convene that space.
[00:26:08] And I feel really proud as the public radio station here that we did.
[00:26:12] We turned to both sides of that debate and invited them, invited them into a shared stage with tightly moderated questions and opportunities for rebuttal.
[00:26:22] And, uh, there's been so much feedback in the last week about how helpful that was by voters who are trying to make a decision on how to vote on this contentious issue.
[00:26:32] That's the kind of thing we do in, in community media and public media.
[00:26:36] We create spaces for people to be heard and share their ideas.
[00:26:41] And I just think that that's so important to democracy and to the underpinnings of a community.
[00:26:47] We don't have to agree on everything, but we have to have a space in which we can talk about the things.
[00:26:52] This has been a really excellent interview.
[00:26:55] And I appreciate the opportunity to be speaking with Breeze Richardson.
[00:26:58] She is the executive director of Aspen Public Radio, a longtime leader in this space.
[00:27:04] Breeze, thank you so much.
[00:27:05] This has been an episode of Inspiring Women with Lori McGraw.
[00:27:10] Please subscribe, rate, and review.
[00:27:12] We are produced at Executive Podcast Solutions.
[00:27:15] More episodes can be found on inspiringwomen.show.
[00:27:19] I am Lori McGraw, and thank you for listening.