Former WVXU-FM reporter Ann Thompson succinctly puts it this way: "With evictions skyrocketing and homeownership plummeting, we’re passionate about looking for ways to help people find a home or stay in their home.”
By “we” she means the new four-person Brick by Brick team at Public Media Connect — the partnership between Cincinnati’s WCET-TV and Dayton’s “ThinkTV” WPTD-TV — dedicated to finding “solutions for a thriving community.”
In just one month, three online videos, three podcasts and four stories have been posted on the Brick by Brick websites at cetconnect and thinktv. They’ve looked at new affordable housing in downtown Cincinnati; converting Downtown office towers for residential use; and possible zoning changes to increase housing opportunities.
The new solutions-based public affairs unit includes Thompson, who left WVXU-FM after 25 years in October; Cincinnati-based multimedia journalist Hernz Laguerre Jr., who has worked for Detroit’s NPR affiliate WDET-FM, the Detroit News and Court TV; and Dayton-based multimedia journalist Emiko Moore, a producer for NBC’s Today show and field producer for NBC Nightly News and MSNBC; as well as executive producer Mark Lammers, local content director for Public Media Connect.
The goal is to post digital content biweekly, says Lammers, a 2006 Ohio University graduate who was a TV news executive producer in Colorado Springs and production manager for Amazon Studios in Los Angeles before hired by WCET-TV/WPTD-TV 10 years ago.
“Along with the podcasts, there are videos online and on the PBS Streaming App for each episode’s reporter story, as well as other extras as they happen. And we just started placing our podcasts on YouTube as well,” Lammers says. “A broadcast TV element for this project” is planned for this fall, he adds.
The Brick by Brick initiative was an outgrowth of WPTD-TV's Emmy Award-winning documentary in 2022, Redlining: Mapping Inequality in Springfield and Dayton.
“Housing often serves as a foundation for everything else in our lives, whether that be educational attainment, public health, wealth-building, crime and safety, civic engagement, etc. Since it’s at the heart of many social issues, and is currently a major issue for many families in our region, it’s imperative that we start this effort with housing,” Lammer says.
Kitty Lensman, Public Media Connect president and CEO, says that while Cincinnati and Dayton have “some wonderful news operations,” the public TV stations ”saw a need to bring a solutions-journalism community affairs program to the region.
"Through Brick by Brick, we are able to put a local lens on some of the most important national issues our communities are facing in an in-depth and unbiased manner," she says.
Before joining WVXU-FM 25 years ago, Thompson had worked for WKRC-AM, WCKY-AM, Dayton's WHIO-TV and the Metro Networks traffic and news service. She welcomed the opportunity to do long-form reporting.
“It’s not often journalists are able to spend months on one topic. What excites me about this project is that Public Media Connect has given our team the resources to dig deep into a problem that is not only affecting Cincinnati and Dayton, but the rest of the country,” she says.
