Federal News Network: Here’s why we changed our name

Federal News Radio is now Federal News Network. Like every agency, change is always at hand. The morphing state of the media today required us to keep the evolutionary pace. We think it’s the logical next step as our story is one of constant transformation.

We’ve always had our flag planted on at least two different hills:  We broadcast on a 50,000 watt Class A clear channel radio station that enjoys the highest protection from the interference of other signals, which on a clear night can be heard from Nova Scotia to Key West. We’ve also spent 18 years building a reputation as a topnotch online publisher whose coverage and presentation wins journalism awards and is read by a large and loyal federal audience.

So what about our new name — Federal News Network — makes it better than our old one?  Well, it’s all about how we present you our news and information on our website, on the radio, on our multiple social media channels as audio and video and via our email newsletters.

“The news business is constantly in a state of upheaval and opportunity. We understand that today more than ever, our audience wants to listen, read and watch on multiple platforms and when it’s convenient for them,” said Joel Oxley, senior vice president and general manager of Federal News Network and WTOP. ”Our name change recognizes that landscape and we are pleased to meet our audience where they want and need our valuable news.”

Through our network, we continue to be the go-to source for the day’s federal news and information. Our radio signal, 1500AM, remains a vibrant and vital aspect for the Washington Metropolitan Area federal listener. Our newly launched Ask the CIO.com is our newest digital channel for specialized coverage. Our reporters, editors, radio hosts and producers continue to find and share the most important news of the day across all our platforms, making Federal News Network a great meeting place for thought-leaders to have conversations, share ideas and discuss topics meaningful to the federal workforce.

Federal News Network is also a collection of valuable experiences. We take our job seriously as the daily scribes of the first draft of Executive Branch history and as the drivers of analysis of complex stories and trends. Our reporters are consistently breaking news and providing in-depth analysis on issues affecting the federal community. Here are a just a few:

• Reporter Nicole Ogrysko’s blockbuster coverage of the Trump administration’s reorganization plans and its effects  and the seismic changes to the security clearance program.
• DoD Reporter Scott Maucione’s special report on the growing and often questioned use of the Defense Department’s Other Transaction Authorities.
• Our photo-journalistic coverage of federal unions protesting presidential Executive Orders.
• Executive Editor Jason Miller’s prolific exclusive and breaking news of the ever-shifting roles of agency CIOs and other executives as well as our breaking coverage of government spending packages avoiding a shutdown, the 2019 federal pay raise and FEHBP premium increases.
• Our entire staff’s event coverage that includes live tweets and videos of some of the most noteworthy newsmaker comments.
• Compelling infographics that make our reporting come alive:
  • Education department telework stats that don’t support management’s reasoning for cutting the telework program.
  • The story of how one agency exceeded its small business contracting goal – by a lot.

• Our growing collection of 25-plus podcasts running the gamut from daily news stories to marketing innovations to venture capitalists investing in federal start-ups to industry perspectives on government trends to the legal aspects of managing the federal workforce to pay, benefits, retirement to IT to mentors to acquisition policy to defense programs and on and on.

As we add the word “Network” to our identity, it more aptly “represents both how our audience engages with us and how our advertisers partner with us,” said Jeffrey Wolinsky, director of federal and national sales.

Our custom capabilities continue to grow and meet our industry partner demands through surveys, eBooks, webinars, panel discussions, video white papers, executive briefings and online chats. And we continue to expand our network of products and services to the federal community on a daily basis.

Looking back, the name Federal News Network definitely would have been a stretch at our inception. At the turn of the century, our nascent news organization sprouted from sister radio station WTOP. A lightbulb went off at the sheer number of listeners with dot-gov and dot-mil email extensions. At that time, we went by WTOP2.com, which was accompanied by an equally awkward logo on a website whose main feature was streaming audio. You could call it the precursor to podcasting.

We’ve grown from a staff of two (yours truly and one other) to one that consists of some of the most well-known and respected journalists in the community with well more than 100 years of experience covering the federal market.

Today, Federal News Network is an impressive collection of people, products, services and platforms fully focused on delivering the most timely, accurate and important information to the federal community. I’m proud of our network and of how our new name now reflects the totality of us.

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