Closing a Chapter, Honoring a Legacy: Sunsetting FoC Media/International Media Project

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Posted on Apr 7, 2025

Illustration of a sun setting on the water. In the sun, the logos for Making Contact and Frequencies of Change Media. (Photo by Lissa Deonarain)

For 30 years, Frequencies of Change Media — legally known as International Media Project — has been dedicated to broadcasting audio stories that honor the rich wisdom and lived experience of historically oppressed and marginalized communities. We came into existence during a time when conservative talk radio and hosts like Rush Limbaugh were gaining massive popularity, and Making Contact was created to directly challenge the conservative political agenda. Our 10-week radio experiment turned into three decades of sound-rich, nuanced storytelling distributed to over 150 stations nationwide. We cannot be more proud of the legacy and the impact of our social justice reporting.

But today, we are writing with a difficult announcement: after deep reflection and careful consideration, we have decided to sunset our beloved organization. This decision was not made lightly, and we want to take a moment to share why we’ve come to this conclusion, reflect on our impact, and express our deep gratitude to all of you who have been part of this journey.

Why We’re Closing

Like many nonprofit organizations, we have faced a rapidly evolving media landscape and a volatile economy. Our micro-newsroom has survived as long as it has because we were a very scrappy team who made a lot with very little, as many grassroots organizations do.

In 2021, we took necessary steps to create an equitable work culture by increasing wages, providing healthcare benefits, and supporting our audio journalists with additional production services. The high production quality of Making Contact in the past few years demonstrates how much we needed these vital support services to elevate our reporting.

Despite our editorial gains, shifts in journalism funding and the rapidly changing industry have made it incredibly difficult for us to find a sustainable path forward as a standalone journalism nonprofit. Rather than continuing to fight against these limitations, we decided as a team that, if we are unable to sustain an equitable organization with fair wages and benefits, sunsetting the organization is the right choice that aligns with our values rather than to keep marching forward by doing more with less.

This collective decision meant that we had to lay off our exceptional and talented team of journalists and are working with a skeleton crew of contractors to keep the organization going until the end of the year. Please contact our talented producers on LinkedIn if you have any reporting opportunities!

What We’ve Built Together

While this decision is bittersweet, we take immense pride in everything we have accomplished as a community. Together, we have:

✅ Reached over 45,000+ annual podcast downloads
✅ Created a beautiful broadcast network of 150 stations across 33 US states and seven stations across Canada.
✅ Earned more than 25 journalism awards for reporting excellence through Making Contact.

None of this would have been possible without the passion, dedication, and support of our listeners, donors, partners, and team members. Your belief in this mission has fueled every step of our work.

New Making Contact episodes until Fall 2025

Thanks to our current remaining funding, end-of-year donations, and financial reserves, we are able to continue publishing new, encore, and partner episodes until fall 2025, with the potential to extend until the end of the year. We will deliver these to our broadcast partners and continue to podcast as usual.

What Comes Next?

As we close this chapter, we are working hard to ensure that our organization lives on:

📌 Carrying the torch – We are looking for values-aligned partners to take over production and keep Making Contact on the air.
📌 Station Community – While we are actively seeking a values-aligned organization to continue producing Making Contact, if that effort is unsuccessful, we will provide stations with quality alternatives to help maintain your broadcast schedule and permission to re-air past Making Contact episodes.
📌 Our archives and resources – We are working to create a free and accessible archive for our past shows for future progressive content creators and journalists to use as source material.
📌 Final reflections – We are hosting an in-person 30th Anniversary event in the Bay Area to celebrate our journey and thank our supporters, and are exploring an online space for reflections. Stay tuned for details.

Thank You for Everything

While this is the end of International Media Project/Frequencies of Change, it is not the end of the movement we’ve been part of. The fight for justice, truth, and progress continues — and we know that each of you will carry it forward in new and powerful ways.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of this story. Thank you for your passion, generosity, and belief in the power of independent, progressive voices.

With deep gratitude,

Jina Chung & Cassidy Dimon
Executive Director & Board Chair