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Archives of
NPR:
Office of the President –
Strategic Planning Files
Processed by: Raphael Mazzone
December 2004
7.50 lin. ft.
Administrative History | Scope and Content | Provenance | Series Descriptions
In 1988 Douglas Bennet, the President of National Public Radio, approached the uncertainty of the upcoming decade by initiating a Strategic Planning process for the later part of the 1980’s. The office hired a new special assistant to the president, Carolyn Sachs, in the fall of 1988 to handle all communications and administrative duties. The main objective was to have a working goals report, with clear agendas and results in order to facilitate easy transition into a new age of information and technology. Major points of interest revolved around the months leading to the Public Radio Conference of 1989, NPR station affiliates strategic planning goals, and the correspondence between professionals in different fields coming together for the advancement of public radio. The office used various outside sources, including news articles, corporate business strategies, and in depth research to formulate a working knowledge of the topic of strategic planning. The Working Group held in March of 1989 began the process of the “Plan for the Plan,” culminating in the Strategic Planning Implementation in January of 1990.
The Archives of National Public Radio: Office of the President – Strategic Planning Files span the years from 1978 to 1993, with the bulk of the material dating from 1988 to 1991. The files include reports, drafts, correspondence, financial reports, notes, conferences, and outside research which all help to identify Strategic Planning.
The collection consists of six series:
- Series 1: Strategic Plans
- Series 2: Memoranda
- Series 3: Meetings
- Series 4: Station Plans
- Series 5: Research Materials
- Series 6: Subject Files
The Archives of National Public Radio: Office of the President – Strategic Planning Files were donated to the National Public Broadcasting Archives, University of Maryland Libraries as part of a larger accession in February of 1994.
Series 1: Strategic Plans, 1982-1990 (1.5 lin. ft.)
Strategic Plans consist of various files pertaining to the plans for National Public Radio and how to handle the move into the 1990’s. Ranging from the official report “The Plan for the Plan,” to random correspondence for conferences, the series offers an overview of how the Strategic Planning office decided to handle changing times and technology in the realm of radio. The materials are arranged by relevance.
Series 2: Memoranda, 1988-1990 (0.75 lin. ft.)
Memoranda is a collection of interoffice memos between the president and his various contributors. They are organized in chronological order, starting in 1988 and ending in October of 1990. The individual letters are too random to categorize by subject, but some overlap with other files in this collection in the Research Materials and Subject Files Series.
Series 3: Meetings, 1980-1990 (0.30 lin. ft.)
This series documents various meetings held in the executive office and elsewhere, all of which pertain to formulating the strategic plan. Major meetings include the Senior Management Retreat and the Working Group. The documents are arranged chronologically.
Series 4: Station Plans, 1988-1990 (0.50 lin. ft.)
The Station Plans files are arranged by station call letters, and detail each individual station’s ideas or thoughts on the strategic planning process. Some station managers include their final goals and assessments for the upcoming years, but most of the files are correspondence between Douglas Bennet and station managers.
Series 5: Research Materials, 1978-1993 (2.0 lin. ft.)
This series contains various informative documents and plans that assisted the Office of the President in determining a proper course of action for the Strategic Plan. The range of topics include audience demographics, future trends, legislation, corporate strategies, and public radio assessments. The materials are arranged alphabetically.
Series 6: Subject Files, 1985-1992 (2.50 lin. ft.)
This series contains all materials relevant to Strategic Planning, but not directly tied into the process behind the office. Materials include budget information, news, surveys, personnel management, politics, and National Public Radio policies. These materials are arranged in alphabetical order.
A complete guide in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) can be found here.
