Oh, You'll Get Over It

 I've Heard This Before

But for me, some things will never settle. They are not meant to settle. In a way, it's like grief. There will always be feelings for something that is such a significant part of my life. So many things never would have happened if I hadn't responded to that call for volunteering at my local public radio station. That opportunity turned into a whole new direction for me, and  meaningful career of public service. I got to work with some really incredible people, and serve a remarkable audience.

But this isn't all about me. It is about the American people. The mission of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is to ensure universal access to content and services that educate, inform, promote civil discourse, and foster curiosity, with a particular focus on creative risk-taking and addressing the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. CPB stewards federal funding to support more than 1,500 local public media stations nationwide, enabling them to provide essential news, educational programming, and emergency information to all Americans. 

The President and his party doesn't see any value in this because it doesn't serve his agenda. In fact, he resents anything that might seem critical to him. He wants total control over messaging. Therefore, CPB, and Public Media must be eliminated.

About a week ago CPB's Patricia Harrison announced The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be ending operations in a matter of weeks. And you know what is remarkable? The professionalism demonstrated by this letter under extremely difficult circumstances.

Patricia's letter is below.

August 1, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 1, 2025) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following the passage of a federal rescissions package and the release of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, which excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades.

For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country. Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”

CPB informed its employees today that the majority of staff positions will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. A small transition team will remain through January 2026 to ensure a responsible and orderly closeout of operations. This team will focus on compliance, final distributions, and resolution of long-term financial obligations, including ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties that remain essential to the public media system.

“Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said. “We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.”

CPB’s Board of Directors and management are working closely to address the legal, financial, and operational requirements of the closure. CPB will provide regular updates and guidance to stations and producers navigating the profound challenges ahead.

Public Broadcasting's Future

Uncertainty

The future of public broadcasting is in doubt. Trump wants to zero out current funding. He can do that by asking Congress for a recission. 

This not about saving federal dollars. CPB's federal appropriation is modest: roughly one one-hundredth of a percent (0.01%) of the federal budget. CPB is distinct from NPR and PBS and does not produce programming or own, operate, or manage any public media stations. -opb.org. 

This is about retribution. "President Trump is looking to go after PBS and NPR to settle political scores and muzzle the free press, while undermining foreign assistance programs that push back on China's malign influence, save lives, and address other bipartisan priorities," (-Sen. Schumer) Foreign aid is part of this order for recission by Trump.

Will he get his way?

 I remember observing focus groups for Audience 88 and Audience 98. One of the questions asked about the importance of public radio. What would you do if public radio were to disappear? We were asking our audience why they found public radio important in a crowded media environment. It is now up to Congress to decide if Trump can pull all funding for NPR and PBS. It's called a recission of funding. Most Republicans say they support this idea. If public media is important to you, speak up now! You will get talking points back, but it is sheer numbers that will impress Congress.

And what did we discover about our listeners? They considered themselves to be citizens of the world. They appreciated how we were able to put stories a broader context, and they understood the interconnectedness of our shared experience.  

Contact Congress

U.S. House of Representatives:
* Telephone:  202-225-3121
* Website:  http://www.house.gov/ 

U.S. Senate:
* Telephone:  202-224-3121
* Website:  http://www.senate.gov/

Find your member of Congress and contact him or her:
Contact your Representative
Contact your Senator

Strange Times

What are we going to do about it?

 

I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’

I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest

Where the people are many and their hands are all empty

Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters

Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison

Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden

Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten

Where black is the color, where none is the number

And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it

And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’

But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’ 

-Bob Dylan Hard Rain...

We've been here before

Someone told me at the beginning of the pandemic that these are really strange and perilous times. She was right, and it has gotten much worse. We were asked during the election if we were better off in 2024 than we were in 2020. Decidedly, yes!

Getting Even

"Trump has moved aggressively to fulfill his promise of “retribution” in the first 100 days of his second term by taking action against over 100 people and institutions, according to an NPR review. He has used the government to target political opponents, news organizations, law firms, universities and more. Some of the harshest actions he has taken against people he has targeted include ordering multiple Justice Department investigations."
" Trump is also effectively telling investigators what he believes the outcomes of the investigations should be, NPR’s Tom Dreisbach says. The Trump administration uses over 10 agencies in various ways to get payback. Secret Service protection has been pulled for President Biden’s children, media companies that Trump dislikes, including NPR, face FCC investigations, and universities face investigation from the Department of Education unless they agree to sweeping government demands."

We are living in dark times.

Giving up is not an option. Starting by gathering with like minded people is a beginning. The mutual support makes us stronger. Speaking out is important. Taking action, even in small ways is the beginning of a ground swell. 

The attacks on the dignity of individuals, on whole communities, goes beyond the attempts to silence contrary voices, voices that uphold the facts.

You understand what's going on here, right? Blatant racism! A callous disregard for the health and well being of fellow Americans based on their skin color and economic situation. The mere fact I am bringing this up, the fact that the previous administration was willing to step in and alleviate the plight of groups of people is deemed racism. Do you understand how warped their reasoning has become? Are you willing to stand with the facts, to stand in favor of justice, and treating people with dignity? 

Trump shut down environmental clean-up programs

 In Lowndes County, Alabama, funding was granted to end human waste backing into Alabama homes. A situation that went unchecked for years. Lowndes County is majority black. The State of Alabama was unwilling to do anything about the unhealthy situation. The Biden administration stepped in to alleviate situation. It was a $26 million federal program to help residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who have dealt with inadequate sewage systems for decades.

 "The Biden administration investigated and allocated nearly $26 million to rebuild Lowndes County’s water infrastructure, with the Department of Justice declaring the majority-Black area was suffering from “environmental racism.”   

"But earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to kill the deal, calling it “illegal DEI.”

Five things we can do

The UN suggests five things we can do to stand against injustice and hatred.

1. Show your support for diverse ethnic groups in your community by attending, promoting or helping fund events run by local organizations and houses of worship that bring people together: festivals, film series, guest lectures, language classes and celebrations. Bring your children.

2. If you see something in news reports or on social media that reflects prejudice, write a letter to the editor or leave a comment to let others know that intolerant remarks are unkind and uncalled for.

3. Prejudice and hate are not innate. They are learned behaviors — and they can be unlearned. Children absorb biases from the adults around them, and from the media, books and their peers. So set a good example. The process of countering negatives with positives begins at an early age. Talking about differences does not increase prejudice in children.

4. When the public stands in solidarity with immigrants and marginalized groups, bullies lose their power. If you see someone being harassed or physically attacked, it is important to help if you can do so safely. Make your presence as a witness known. Make eye contact with the person being attacked and ask if they want support. Don't escalate the situation.

5, It's more important than ever that we all remain in solidarity with one another. Human rights are a collective promise made by all countries of the world, including those in distress. Children from all ethnic backgrounds — especially children who have been uprooted by violence, war and poverty — need our support, wherever they are. Every child deserves to be treated with humanity, and to grow up in a safe and healthy environment.

Don't forget to laugh.

It’s just easier to laugh than to cry. If I cry, I’ll cry alone. But if you laugh, we can do it together. I guess no one knows how strong they can be until it’s their turn to deal with tragedy.
- Yusra Mardini,“Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph”

 

Things that Work / Negative Political Advertising

Brian Worthheim
 

Negative Ads

Not all things that work are good for us

I'm sure you've noticed all the negative ads as we get closer to the election Tuesday. But are they working?

They are in Wisconsin, and some heavy hitters in conservative circles are behind Ron Johnson and his campaign.

Up until recently, Mandela Barnes had a sizeable lead on Ron Johnson. That lead has evaporated as Johnson and an advertising campaign, largely funded by two billionaires who the Democrat’s campaign say are rewarding Johnson for his support of tax cuts that benefited them by hundreds of millions of dollars. The campaign is loaded with false hoods and racists dog whistles.

The Guardian and PBS reports Diane Hendricks, a rightwing billionaire businesswoman and Wisconsin native closely tied to Donald Trump, and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, founders of the Wisconsin-based Uline packaging company who have a long history of funding far-right candidates, are the main donors to a political action committee, Wisconsin Truth, which until recently was heavily outspending the Barnes campaign.

Their campaign may not be fair, but there's no law against it. NPR reports The federal government does regulate truth in advertising, but that only applies to commercial ads, not political ones. In fact, local broadcast channels - think your local NBC, CBS or ABC news stations - are required to air candidates' ads unfiltered.

After months of flinging mud, Senator Ron Johnson was finally obliged to admit that his Democratic opponent in the upper midwestern state of Wisconsin had never actually made a call to “defund the police”.

But that did not stop the Trumpist senator’s re-election drive from continuing to broadcast racially charged advertisements falsely claiming that Mandela Barnes, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, “rationalized violence” against the police and tying him to the most controversial positions of Black Lives Matter. -The Guardian

In a report on PBS NewsHour, Senator Tommy Tuberville in a campaign rally in Nevada with Donald Trump made racist claims. 

Some people say, well, they're soft on crime.

No, they're not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have.

They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.

Bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

And there's really no getting around the fact that that is a racist statement, the idea that only Black people commit crime or something, which is just patently untrue, and — yes, and just very much untrue.

But what I will say is that the Republican effort to tie Democrats to crime, to say that Democrats want crime or our, like, soft on crime, or want lenience on criminals, that is very much on message with the Republican campaigns.

There is a huge amount of spending on crime-related advertising. You mentioned Wisconsin. -Tamara Keith

The sad part is, standing with the facts may not be enough to offset big money and big lies that resonate with people's fears. It's not ethical, but it will continue to work, unless enough people who care, vote. 

Finding News You Can Trust

What to look for

UCMerced put together some really clear guidelines on what news consumers should be looking for.

Characteristics of Reputable Newspapers

• publishes accurate content; checks facts, and if errors are made, corrects them
• uses reputable sources (people, documentation) and verifies those sources
• presents headlines which accurately represent the article content; headlines don't play on readers' emotions
• clearly identifies authors of articles with bylines
• produces its own content; doesn't merely aggregate content from other sources
• clearly identifies content types (e.g. report vs. editorial)
• conducts reporting not just editorializing
• employs journalists who follow the profession's code of ethics
• Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics, four main sections: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, Be Accountable and Transparent
• 10 Elements to Good Journalism (American Institute Press), selected from Kovach and Rosenstiel's book The Elements of Journalism.

As long as public a radio and television can continue to meet these standards, it will continue to meet the expectations of its audience. These standards need to adhered to no matter the platform.

Pew Research points out who you trust depends on your politics, but do politics make for reliable news? 

According to Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication & media, Merrimack College, this is what you should watch out for. 

• Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo. These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy). Example: Newslo also using URL politicot.com (similar to a legitimate news site)

• Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources. Example: abcnews.com.co (This domain is now available.)

• Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.

• Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.

• Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.

• Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).

• Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.

• Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources. Example: Drudge Report

• If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.

• If the website you’re reading encourages you to DOX individuals, it’s unlikely to be a legitimate source of news.  DOX refers to publishing an individual's personal information with the intent of causing harm.

Naming Names

• It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some sources not yet included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News, vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources.

In The Middle

If you're looking for something centrist as your news source, the University of Michigan came up with these names.

Common Ground: Centrist News Sources

Wall Street Journal
Daily business-focused newspaper based out of New York City.

The Wall Street Journal has a bias rating of "Center" according to AllSides. The Pew Research Center found that the Wall Street Journal is read by people of all political leanings and is the only news source that is more trusted than distrusted by people all across the political spectrum. There is, however, some debate but it has been accused of being biased to both the left and the right.

BBC News
The British Broadcasting Corporation News division produces television, radio, and internet news. The BBC is a public service broadcaster established by a Royal Charter of the United Kingdom.

The BBC News has a bias rating of "Center" from AllSides. According to Pew, BBC is more trusted than distrusted among the different ideological groups except for consistently conservative individuals who view BBC as about equally trusted as distrusted.

USA Today
American daily newspaper that provides both news and entertainment coverage.

USA Today has a bias rating of "Center" from AllSides. According to the Pew survey, USA Today is more trusted than distrusted among the different ideological groups except for consistently conservatives who view USA Today as more distrusted than trusted.

Almost Center News Sources

The following news sources are rated as "Center" by AllSides and are noted for stating an independent and unbiased agenda, as well as consistently providing balanced coverage (giving time to both sides of an issue). However, they are listed here as almost center because of audience distrust from conservatives.

Respondents to the Pew survey who are consistently liberal, mostly liberal, and mixed views, rated these sources as more trusted than distrusted. Mostly conservatives rated them as about equally trusted as distrusted; Consistently conservatives rated them as more distrusted than trusted.

NPR
National Public Radio is a U.S. private and publicly funded non-profit organization that syndicates to a network of local stations.

PBS NewsHour
The Public Broadcasting Service is a non-commercial U.S. television broadcaster and distributor.

Looking Further

Look to Reuters, The Associated Press, The Times, The Post, The Hill, Politico, and The Week for more coverage. Other perspectives can be found by reading Op-ed pieces from a broad range of columnists, conservative, moderate and liberal. Search for writers with legitimate journalism credibility. Rumor mongers and punditry are less reliable. (Public media users tend to be turned off by these two groups.)

Finding reliable news sources can be problematic. Algorithms tend to classify you by your clicks. If you happen to click on a particular kind of sight (Conservative or Progressive), the algorithms will send you more of the same. The system will reinforce that particular viewpoint. It makes looking for diverse viewpoints and opinions more difficult. Aiming your search to centrist sources help mitigate that problem.

 

 

Public Broadcasting's Upward Trend

Data provided by the Pew Research Center shows modest yet steady growth among Public Radio's news oriented stations. Data shows increases from 2015 to 2016.

Take a look at these trends. How does the data from your station stack up against the benchmarks established by national trends?  (If you need help with that, let me know.)

• Listenership if up 11% among the top 20 station.

• NPR programming is up 14%.

• PRI Programming is up 12.5%.

• Public Radio's digital presence is on the rise.

• PBS NewsHour grew 22%.

• Revenue went up at the national level for NPR and PRI. APM saw a decrease. According to Pew, "At the national level NPR increased its total operating revenue in 2016 to $213 million, up 9% from 2015 levels. PRI saw gains as well, rising 26% to about $22 million in total revenue for 2016. APM’s total revenue, on the other hand, went down 6% year over year, accounting for $126 million in 2016."

• Locally, earnings have been relatively flat.

• News oriented station increased investment in their news gathering resourced about 5% from 2014 to 2015.

• Viewership for commercial network news declined 1% to 24 million viewers.

• Cable news networks increased 55% to 4.8 million viewers.

• Newspaper subscriptions dropped 8% between 2015 and 2016. Subscriptions are up slightly since the election.

Political Leanings and Media

You are who you listen to

The Pew Research Journalism Project released a report about the media habits of liberals and conservatives. There is no middle ground.

These are Consistent Liberals and Consistent Conservatives. Their views consistently lean left or right. They represent about 20% of the population, and they do not leave room for other points of view. They are the most partisan. They have one thing in common. They tend to lead political discussions.

One Source v. Many
Consistent Conservatives rely primarily on one news source, Fox News. Consistent Liberals rely on several including the BBC, PBS, NPR and the New York Times. Another way of looking at this? Liberals are willing to look at the news from a variety of perspectives. When I worked in public media, those who listened would comment they liked the various perspectives offered in our coverage. Another way to think about it - the liberal sources are known for their journalism. Fox News is known for pundits.

Here's a graphic from Pew that puts this in perspective....

Poor Health Coverage/Poor Reporting

Public says news coverage of health care law shortchanges practical information

Pew research says most of us are unhappy with the way the Affordable Care Act is being covered. According to Pew a majority of Americans say the news media’s coverage of the law has been focused on politics and controversies, rather than how it will impact people. By focusing on the rhetoric, the public is being shortchanged on the facts on how the plan will affect them.

The Kaiser Health Track Survey (the source for the survey) suggests the reporting on the issue has resulted in a lack of trust of the media on this issue.

"More than half (53%) of those surveyed say there is not a news media source that they trust for information about the health law; 44% said there were news outlets they trusted. Of those who said they trust one or multiple news sources, 19% cited cable TV, with 10% naming Fox News and 5%  naming CNN. Broadcast TV outlets and newspapers ranked second at 7% each."

I clicked through to the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. Only 3% trust NPR's coverage and 2% trust PBS' coverage. The coverage of late on NPR has been more about how the ACA will be implemented but, public perception is that public broadcasting's coverage is not to be trusted. This runs counter to public broadcasting's perception that it the nation's most trusted news source.  http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/02/4th-annual-tv-news-trust-poll.html

Stretching the Meaning

This may be a stretch but, an interpretation of the research may be that the public is tired of the partisan politics perpetuated by cable news outlets like Fox, MSNBC and conservative pundits. The controversy is wearing all of us out when the real story is how the ACA is going to work. "How is this change going to affect my health coverage?" Partisan politics and partisan media coverage that fuels the partisan divide is getting us nowhere.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating

Poynter's Jeff Sonderman reports on the Gallup finding that 24% of Americans give journalists high ethics.

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating.

Before journalists start chortling to themselves they should realize their rating of 24% is in the lower half of this poll. The results are not surprising when you consider a Pew Survey in 2011 that found that 75% of Americans thought journalists could not get their facts straight. Those being interviewed were kinder to the news organizations they used. 62% believed the news organizations they used got it right. They also believed that the organizations they did not use got it wrong 66% of the time.

PBS and NPR often tout surveys that show they are the most trusted sources of information in this country. The slap of reality is that the Pew Survey found that PBS and NPR are not top of mind when it comes to news sources. NPR was mentioned by 3% and PBS was mentioned by 1%.

Part of my experience is in journalism. I actually did some reporting before moving over to public broadcasting management. Since I spent a lot of time raising money, I'm pretty sure journalists would rate  me somewhere just above car salesmen.

Poynter survey on least and most civil news

Survey: Fox most uncivil, PBS most civil news organization | Poynter.
Poynter released survey results on civility in America today.

• Fox News and MSNBC are still the most uncivil news services. 
• PBS is still considered the most civil. 
• 82% of Americans believe the news media is more interested on controversy than the facts.
• Fox and MSNBC or considered more civil than they were last year.
• NPR did not make the list despite having over 26 million weekly listeners.

KCET Struggles

The LA Times published an article today about the continued struggles of KCET. Last year KCET cut ties with PBS. A big reason was the cost of belonging to PBS to acquire national programming like Frontline and NewsHour.

Without PBS and the national programs, KCET is floundering. The audience droped around 50%. Funding has also dropped off sharply. That's not a surprise since audience and funding are directly related to each other.

There's a lot more in this article by James Rainey for the Los Angeles Times.

Political Ad Ban For Pubcasters

U.S. ban on political ads on public TV struck down

I think this is a really bad idea. Among the values of the public broadcasting users...getting away from the commercial clutter.

The rulling seems to run counter to the intent of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

So what matters most? Is it the values that bring listeners and viewers and to public media or is it the potential advertising revenues when SUPERPACS start placing ads adjacent to All Things Considered and Frontline?

WDSC Leaves PBS

WDSC is dropping its affiliation with PBS. The Daytona State College station will focus on teaching students with a new degree program. The Daytona News Journal reports state and federal budget cuts resulted in the college ending its membership with the Public Broadcasting Service, which made up 25 percent of its programming. It not clear from the article what programming will be aired by WDSC.


WDSC is not the only Public TV station in Florida to change direction. In April of 2011 it was announced that WMFE, Orlando was up for sale. The FCC has not yet approved the sale of the license to Daystar, a religious broadcaster. 


Daytona Beach and Orlando are being served by WBCC-TV out of Cocoa, Florida. 


 

Early Results for KCET Not Good

Funding is down at KCET. Way Down!  Contributions and grants at KCET have dropped over $22 million since they ended their affiliation with PBS. They're hoping new programming will result in increases soon.
There's more in this article by Scott Collins of the LA Times.

Downton Abbey Inspires Jewelry Line Controversy

The popularity of Downton Abbey on PBS has inspired a jewelry line being sold through PBS.
The creators of the show are apparently unhappy because PBS did not get clearance to do so.
Producers Carnival were forced to call in lawyers to stop the Public Broadcasting Service, the US network that airs Downton Abbey, from naming jewelry after the show’s most famous character, Lady Mary Crawley. PBS is being asked to pull the items. 


According to the Daily Telegraph, PBS is continuing to sell the jewelry as part of its Downton Abbey collection, but has now agreed to remove direct references to Lady Mary and other characters from the show – and all mentions of Downton characters have now been deleted from the website.

There are articles in the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.

Is this worse than Barney-Gate? Here's a link to that mid-nineties scandal!

http://www.current.org/mo504.html

.

Head of PBS Says It's Up to the Audience

When I first became involved in Public Radio we had stickers all over the station that said, "Think Audience." PBS CEO Paula Kreger says it's up the audience whether or not Public Television grows.

My experience in public radio is that the audience is indeed the ultimate judge of what they are willing to support. The question for public television will be,can their core content support itself? Is the audience loyal enough to rally around "American Experience", "Nature" and the "NewsHour?" Will more programming like this in the schedule generate enough audience and loyalty be self sustaining? And, can the local affiliates find sufficient funding for local productions?

A substantial core audience can make that happen. At Connecticut Public Radio we defined that as about 40% of the total audience tuning in 10 times a week for about an hour each occasion. CPTV had a much larger audience but, occasions didn't come close to what we had for radio.

The exception for CPTV is  UConn Women's Basketball. That has a large and loyal following.

Can Public Television offer substantial programming for a substantial audience? Will the Public Radio model work for Public Television?

There's a lot more about what Paula Kreger has to say in the Chicago Tribune:

PBS kicks off winter TCA tour: Prexy-CEO Kerger willing to 'make tough decisions' in 2012

Positioning for PBS

PBS' President sees an opportunity for growth in presenting documentaries and the arts. Paula Kerger's vision is that public television can offer more of what is being abandoned by commercial cable channels.
In an interview with The Salt Lake City Tribune she outlines her ideas for the future of public television.
Kerger says, "So, again, it’s another opportunity if we’re really interested in making sure our country’s stories are being told. I think we need to be there."


Public radio has been doing that by providing services long abandoned by commercial services including in-depth news, intelligent entertainment programming, classical music and other music services. So has public TV. Kerger wants to do more. The difference is that the public television network does not create its own content. The stations are the primary provider of content for PBS.  NPR, PRI and APM provides content for member radio stations, most of public radio's most popular programs.

She's right. There is an opportunity. It will be interesting to see if the opportunity can be affordable and self-sustaining.

Good News for PBS in Orlando

The University of Central Florida and Brevard Community College (UCF and BCC) will be picking up where WMFE left off. The two educational institutions announced they will be picking up PBS programming.

WMFE notified PBS on April 1 that they were selling their TV operation to focus on public radio. The TV operation was sold to Daystar Television Network, an evangelical Christian broadcaster based in Dallas.

Budget Cuts For Public Broadcasting In Wisconsin

The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Governor Walker is proposing an 8% cut for Public Television and Public Radio in Wisconsin. Because they also receive funding from the UW-Extension, public broadcasting could get a double cut.
"The agency that helps operate public radio and TV, the Educational Communications Board, would lose about 8 percent of its state funding if his proposal is approved. The ECB works in collaboration with groups like UW-Extension, meaning public radio and TV could face more cuts."
Wisconsin is not the only state proposing cuts to public broadcasting. Cuts are on the way in Virginia. Cuts are proposed in Maine. New Jersey is considering cuts.
Stations will need to focus efforts on listener and viewer sensitive income. That is, programming will need to be self-sustaining.

Another Florida PBS Station May Go Dark

A $250,000 funding cut from Daytona State College puts WDSC 15 at risk. The station serves the Daytona area and Central Florida including part of the area that was served by Orlando's WMFE. WMFE is being sold to a faith based organization.


According to the article in News Journal, "Administrators said the college has already cut the $250,000 it costs for the PBS programs for the next fiscal year and is also struggling to pay $1.5 million overall to run the WDSC 15 station, which includes production costs and other programming."


The college, the station and its board are looking for ways to save PBS for Central Florida. Once idea is an alliance with other Public TV stations - "a Central Florida Broadcast Partnership to "preserve public broadcasting in Central Florida." GM Bob Williams says, "if the board agrees, everything will need to be in place before July 1."


I seems clear that these PTV stations are not self-sustaining through their program offerings. Member support is not enough to keep them on the air. The funding puzzle for these stations is much more complex.