Erika Pulley-Hayes

You joined WMFE/WMFV at the beginning of the year. Obviously, no one could have seen the pandemic coming. Public Radio is a trusted companion, especially in times like these. What have things been like in Central Florida?

It’s surreal. I anticipated a significant change but nothing like this current experience. I’m still learning a lot about our organization and Central Florida and it’s been extremely challenging since the pandemic hit. We had to adapt to a new reality very quickly that required us to work from home before having time to build relationships with my new staff. I made some early community connections when I first arrived but not as many as I would have hoped by now. It’s a lot of Zoom and WebEx right now but I’m really looking forward to personal connections again.

You left a corporate position as VP/Radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for your first hands-on, day-to-day station operator job. Prior to March, what was your take on the ins and outs of the job?

As Vice President, Radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I gleaned a lot of insight into the various operational areas of a station. Prior to March, my take on the role of President and CEO was to lead organizational growth. That requires the ability to develop, articulate and implement strategic plans that drive organizational performance toward goals that advance the organization. As a public media organization, this also requires a passion for the mission and deep connection to the community to ensure our service is locally relevant and reflective of the people we serve.

You’ve had to re-think fund raising during the pandemic. Have you had to modify what would be the ‘typical’ approach to asking the station’s members for financial support?

We certainly have. We recognized early that some of our listeners may not have the funds to give because they were out of work or experiencing other financial hardships. In response, we canceled a fundraising drive scheduled to begin shortly after COVID-19 became a global pandemic and everything was closing. We instead opted to air pre-recorded spots that reinforce our value proposition and close with phrases of soft appeals such as “If you’re able, please donate.”

You were a driving force behind some incredible initiatives while at CPB. What were the highlights from your perspective?

Wow. There are so many. In the early days, I was behind the development of Native Public Media, an organization that works with over 30 public radio stations on Indian reservations where public radio is a way of life. I was a key player in the development of StoryCorps over the years. When I began, I inherited the first of the StoryCorps mobile booth projects. It has gone on to become a public media jewel. American Graduate was an initiative CPB created to address high school dropout rates across the country. In relation, I created Raise Up, a youth-oriented spoken word contest addressing the challenges they experienced on the path to graduation, which resulted in college scholarships. I launched Urban Alternative, a new format for public radio rooted in rhythmic music and funky beats to diversify our audience. And I was behind several podcasting projects that presented new opportunities to stations and brought new talent to public media.

You began your career at a major pharmaceutical company. How did that shape the rest of your career, and could you have ever imagined a path to public radio?

The pharmaceutical experience provided a solid business foundation that has served me well throughout my career. I learned about corporate governance, regulations, how to negotiate, and write for business. It made me a business professional early in my career and the skills I needed to manage legal operations of a small clinical research company when I moved to DC.

I like to say public radio saved me. My commute to the clinical research company was killing my quality of life so I applied for a job at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Over 15 years, I embraced the mission and gained another set of great skills. All this experience makes me uniquely qualified to be the President and CEO of WMFE because there is so much to draw upon. So, while I could have never imagined life in public radio 20 years ago, I can certainly see how my path led me here.

Please talk about your work in the development of journalism collaborations among public media organizations.

Journalism has always been a pillar of public media with national producers NPR, NewsHour and Frontline. However, journalism at the local station level was less prominent. Local newspapers were shrinking and CPB decided to increase the journalism capacity at stations to fill this gap by creating local journalism collaborations. Funding organizations set objectives for their funding dollars. The local journalism collaborations met several: (1) it required stations to change behavior and collaborate with each other objective (2) it increased journalism capacity and (3) it gave stations a focus. Often in public media, we try so hard to serve everybody and we spread ourselves thin in the process. This focus allowed public radio stations across the country to become primary sources of news in their local communities. It was a game changer for public radio.

You developed the policies that govern CPB’s Community Service Grant program which, as public media’s largest funding source. How did this come together?

The Public Broadcasting Act requires that the CPB conduct periodic reviews of the policies that govern community service grants that CPB provides to public radio and television stations and to do so with representatives from stations. In 2019, I was part of the leadership team that updated the policies to be responsive to the changing media landscape. We assembled a group of 21 industry leaders, including stations from Alaska to WMFE in Orlando. Over an 8-month period, we reviewed policies, data, and statistics to develop revised requirements for eligibility. It is a very thoughtful process that requires a significant time commitment on the part of CPB and members of the review panel.

There are occasional rumbles about federal funding for public radio being taken away/cut back. Is this a real threat?

The threat is always real. It seems that public broadcasting becomes an easy target during campaign season when a new candidate presents his/her plan to cut government spending. Fortunately, those threats aren’t received well by the American people. And they don’t save the government much money either. The total appropriation for public broadcasting is less than 1% of total government spending but a financial boost to the local public station that relies most heavily on its community for support. CPB’s community service grant is somewhat of a gold seal of approval that confirms we are running a professional organization that serves the public interest.

Who would you say that your mentors have been over the years?

I’ve been so fortunate to have a mentor in many phases of my life. In high school, that was Mrs. Bolden. She was such a sharp dresser! She was instrumental in helping me obtain my first corporate job at AT&T one summer. At the pharmaceutical company, Warner-Lambert Company, I worked under the Corporate Secretary, Rae Paltiel. Rae’s right hand was Susan Litterest who encouraged me to think about a career as a paralegal when I graduated college. I was a college student working part-time until Susan encouraged me to discuss a full-time opportunity with Rae following graduation. It worked. Then came CPB and all of the strong, successful people leading public service media–Pat Harrison (CEO), Greg Schnirring (VP), Kathy Merritt (SVP) and Bruce Theriault (SVP). These are the people who have made a professional difference in my life and I represent a little of each of them when I show up to work each day.