About the Show

The Host

The Contributors

The Sponsors

About Western Reserve Public Media

About the Show

The Western Reserve Public Media program NEOtropolis focuses on helping Northeast Ohioans make sense of three forces of change that impact our lives. Host Luke Frazier explores how technology, globalization and diversity are impacting how we live:

• The force of technology requires us to respond to and interact with our world in new ways.

• The force of globalization challenges us to adjust the ways we look at edges, borders and cultures.

• The force of diversity allows us to welcome new definitions and expand our boundaries.

“Probably not since our country made the transition from the agrarian age to the industrial era have people faced so many changes in how they work, learn, live and play,” explains Trina Cutter, president and CEO of Western Reserve Public Media and executive producer of the series. “The digital age has changed almost everything. NEOtropolis is a television series that aims to help Northeast Ohioans make sense of the forces of change swirling around them.”

Host Luke Frazier added, “Our goal for NEOtropolis is to explore, in a mindful and sometimes irreverent way, how Northeast Ohio is responding to change. We want to provide information and stories about our experiences, and we invite viewers to help us do that.”

Social media plays an important role in the program. Every episode features invitations to viewers to participate via social media, from the opening Wonder Wall (in which an issue is posed for social media discussion) to the close of the program (where viewers are asked to submit their own comments). Live streaming of the program at NEOtropolis.org and on Facebook and conversation at Twitter@NEOtropolisTV gives viewers the opportunity to interact with the program in real time and through the week, and that interaction becomes part of the content of the broadcast. Social media expert Kathleen Colan joins Frazier in the studio to report on social media feedback and trends.

The series’ website, NEOtropolis.org, features live streaming of the broadcast; video on demand; video extras such as extended interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and B-roll; and archives of prior-season broadcasts. Frazier, Colan and others involved in the production contribute weekly blogs