The Indiana Broadcasters Association has awarded Lakeshore PBS with its fourth annual Cardinal Community Service Award for its program Friends & Neighbors series, highlighting Northwest Indiana organizations and businesses who went above and beyond during the pandemic.
“The unprecedented events of the past year means more and more Hoosiers rely on Indiana TV and radio stations for information to keep safe and informed,” said Dave Arland, IBA Executive Director. “But beyond the critical up-to-date local news, Indiana broadcasters provided critical resources and put forth unique efforts to support local businesses, schools, and the communities they serve.”
Each Year the IBA honors the community service of its membership with the Cardinal Community Service Awards. Named after the state bird, the awards are symbol of dedicated service by our membership. In 2021, more than 70 stations were recognized for efforts in their communities.
“Friends & Neighbors spotlights great people and great organizations that work to improve our communities,” said James A. Muhammad, President and CEO of Lakeshore Public Media. “Our goal during the early days of the pandemic was to continue to bring local stories to our audience. Our Production team was able to find many, many examples of people and groups helping others during these challenging times.”
Segments for the local series included features on Tradewinds in Merrillville, InHealth, Signature Banquets and George’s of Lowell, YMCA, the City of Crown Point and the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana.
Lakeshore PBS has won the Cardinal Award the previous three years. Its first award was for the station’s series of town hall events in 2016 and 2017 titled Race, Justice, Community and Policing, the free public forums that explored the role of race in policing efforts across Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
Last year, Lakeshore PBS won for its work to bring a live conversation with community leaders, political figures and law enforcement to discuss recent events related to the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
“To be recognized by our fellow Indiana Broadcasters four years in a row is a tremendous honor for our station and the team that worked so hard to make this effort happen,” Muhammad stated. “It validates our commitment and our efforts to serve our audience and provide opportunities to have a real impact in our communities.”
Lakeshore Public Media is a community-license public media organization that is the Northwest Indiana member of the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, serving Indiana’s second largest urban area through their Lakeshore PBS and Lakeshore Public Radio service.
Lakeshore PBS broadcasts its main channel over the air on 56, on Comcast on 17 or 21 (HD Channel 239), on Dish Network HD Channel 6320, AT&T U-verse HD Channel 1056 and DirecTV on 56, MediaCom on Channel 16 and online at lakeshorepbs.org. Lakeshore Public Radio can be heard on 89.1 FM and streaming online at lakeshorepublicradio.org.
Lakeshore Public Media provides quality local and original programming that educates, enlightens, and informs. Lakeshore Public Media chooses the best of NPR and PBS and other public media providers, broadcasting to millions of homes throughout Northwest Indiana, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Lakeshore Public Radio can be heard on 89.1fm. Lakeshore PBS broadcasts its main channel over the air on 56, on Comcast on 17 or 21 (HD Channel 239), on RCN Cable on 44, on Dish Network (HD Channel 6320), AT&T U-verse (HD Channel 1056) and DirecTV on 56.