Public radio visionary Bill Siemering wrote the original NPR mission statement in 1970 and became its first director of programming. He discusses the ideals of democracy for which public radio strives. We hear archival audio of NPR’s first day on the air. Bill also talks about his more recent activities of developing community radio services in developing nations as a way to give people a voice and to heal conflict. His work in Burundi, Kosovo, Mongolia, and Sierra Leone has helped develop a degree of understanding among warring factions. These groups now have an opportunity to gain insight and abolish prejudice by hearing different perspectives on the same issues. His knowledge gained from founding NPR has helped Bill to facilitate citizen participation and the spread of valuable information to some of the most rural and impoverished areas of the world.

One of the great values of radio is its ability to bridge. You can bond with people who are similar but then you can also bridge by going to different neighborhoods. Going to places you wouldn’t ordinarily go. And that’s what I believed public radio could do.”

—Bill Siemering