Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
In honor of BirdNote's milestone 18th birthday, we’ve compiled a brief timeline of key events that have happened at BirdNote every year for the past 18 years. BirdNote has come so far, from airing on one station in 2005 to now more than 250 stations and millions of listeners worldwide. Thank you so much for listening to and supporting BirdNote for the past 18 years!
2005
KPLU (now KNKX) broadcasts the first BirdNote Daily episode about the Bald Eagle on February 21, 2005. Also in 2005, BirdNote and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology sign a licensing agreement for bird sounds, which are still used in BirdNote’s shows today. One year prior, the BirdNote's Theme Song was composed and produced by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
2006
BirdNote incorporates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and BirdNote’s founding Board of Directors, Chris Altwegg, Bob Frause, Tom Grant, John Friends, Nancy Rumbel and Emory Bundy adopt by-laws (pictured to the right).
2007
Four stations now carry BirdNote with 150,000 daily listeners, and Bob Sundstrom takes on the role of Lead Writer.
2008
BirdNote grows to 230,000 daily listeners and seven stations and selects Mary McCann and Michael Stein (pictured above) as new narrators and BirdNote launches the first “Birds of BirdNote” Wall Calendar, which is still produced today.
2009
BirdNote’s station carriage is now at 15, with 350,000 daily listeners and BirdNote’s archive features 700 shows.
2010
600,000 listeners through 50 stations now listen to BirdNote every day. Public Radio International’s Living on Earth begins airing BirdNote, and The Lufkin Family Foundation and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation underwrite a new series: “The State of America’s Birds: Getting the Word Out,” which illustrated the findings of The State of the Birds reports produced by national environmental organizations, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
2011
BirdNote achieves its goal to reach more than one million daily listeners with a station carriage of 110 stations, and a new series is underwritten by The Bobolink Foundation, “Sounds and Stewards of the Landscape and the Science of Bird Migration”.
2012
The new BirdNote.org launches! BirdNote expands to more than 130 stations and establishes partnerships with six national organizations - The National Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Environment for the Americas, National Environmental Education Foundation and Partners in Flight - partnerships that still stand today. In addition, The Bobolink Foundation underwrites a new series: “Voices and Vocabularies of Birds and Stewards of the North American Landscape”.
2013
More than 160 stations now carry BirdNote, with a daily listenership of more than 1.3 million listeners. An increasing number of listeners begin tuning in to BirdNote in a digital format, through BirdNote.org, podcast listening and social media. According to a BirdNote 2013 listener survey, 43% of respondents listened to BirdNote exclusively in a digital format. The Lufkin Family Foundation and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation also help launch a new series: “Stories of Stewardship and Bird Conservation”.
2014
Chris Peterson is named Executive Producer Emeritus. Chris retired in June 2014 after 10 years of tireless service and leadership. During her tenure, Chris launched the program, produced more than 1,200 stories and raised over $2 million from individuals and foundations.
And, BirdNote’s travel program commences with a trip to Cuba! BirdNote’s travel program still continues today, with a trip to South Africa in Fall 2022.
2015
More than 200 radio stations now carry BirdNote in the U.S., Canada and the Philippines, with an estimated 1.7 million listeners annually. BirdNote launches the “BirdNote Soars” initiative to double and diversify BirdNote’s audience by 2019, raise more than $1 million and add key staff. In addition, BirdNote produces and distributes the “Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” video, prompting conversations about diversity, conservation and access.
2016
BirdNote now reaches almost two million daily listeners, social media fans and supporters, with video and audio content, and Sallie Bodie becomes BirdNote’s Executive Director.
2017
A new milestone of more than 2 million daily listeners is reached! BirdNote also launches the “Next Generation Initiative,” a national grant program to help BirdNote engage younger audiences that will launch in October 2017.
2018
Sasquatch Books releases BirdNote’s first book, “BirdNote: Chirps, Quirks, and Stories of 100 Birds from the Popular Public Radio Show”.
2019
Sound Escapes, a seven-part series from acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, is released. This series is a crash course in the art of truly listening — something Hempton says is a dying art as human noise overtakes the sounds of nature.
2020
BirdNote releases expanded conservation coverage, including new voices from independent producers throughout the U.S., a special series about the complex range of issues and stakeholders determining the fate of the Greater Sage-Grouse, and the exciting pilot season of Threatened, a podcast that transports listeners to some of the most beautiful and remote places in North America — where birds are calling humans to take action. BirdNote also completes an upgrade to its website thanks to generous donors.
2021
Nick Bayard starts as BirdNote’s new Executive Director and Bring Birds Back is launched, a new longform podcast hosted by Tenijah Hamilton about the joy of birds and the ways that humans can help them through simple, everyday actions. Also in content, BirdNote welcomes Ariana Remmel as a new voice on BirdNote Daily.
Adding to the exciting year of moving forward, BirdNote also releases its IDEA statement, which became official policy per a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors.
2022
