Ryan Wood of WFAA joins Carson Gibbons on The DallasMeetup Dime
This episode of The DallasMeetup Dime features Ryan Wood, the Director of Community Impact at WFAA, discussing his career trajectory and the evolving role of local news in community engagement.
Key highlights include:
Career Origins: Ryan shares how witnessing the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (1:32) sparked his lifelong curiosity and passion for journalism, eventually leading him to WFAA.
Innovation in Local News: Ryan explains how traditional news formats are adapting to modern digital habits. WFAA has shifted toward a multi-platform strategy, including 24/7 streaming on WFAA Plus (6:47), a strong presence on YouTube as a search engine for specific news segments (8:22), and leveraging social media to reach audiences beyond the immediate metro area.
Community Impact Role: As Director of Community Impact, Ryan focuses on using WFAA's platform of 8 million people to benefit North Texas (11:00). This includes:
Non-profit Partnerships: Building creative sponsorship packages that provide benefits to businesses while increasing funding for non-profits (11:37).
Philanthropy: Managing campaigns like the Santa’s Helpers holiday toy drive, which provides 60,000 toys to children annually (11:21).
PSA Support: Donating over a million dollars in annual airtime to support local non-profit messaging (12:32).
How to Connect: Businesses and non-profits looking to partner or learn more can visit the Community Impact page on wfaa.com or contact Ryan directly at rwood@wfaa.com (13:06).
