I’m a big fan of PBS and NPR – public television and public radio. Nebraska Public Media broadcasts from Lincoln and is sent to us via a tower near Angora. PBS and NPR reach 99% of America, and there is no charge. Families of any income level can enjoy their programming. When our children were little, we didn’t pay for cable, and there weren’t subscription stations then. Our antenna picked up two Scottsbluff television stations, and we got PBS.
It seemed like PBS was the only television station our TV was ever on. We had a one-hour limit on TV on school days. The kids watched Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood when they were small. Then they advanced to Reading Rainbow (How many of those books did we buy because Levar Burton recommended them?) and The Magic School Bus (again, buying lots of books about science with Miss Frizzle). By MIddle School we’d moved on to MathNet, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Remember when Carmen Sandiego was captured at Carhenge? (It was before the cars were all painted gray.)
I’m not sure whether any of these shows, besides Sesame Street, still air. I’ve looked at the list of children’s programs on PBS over the last few decades, and it is exciting to see that PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) have continued to focus on educational programming that is fun. What incredible shows! They help children learn, quite different from network television’s focus on selling sugary cereal or toys.
I hadn’t really thought about how special and how different these stations were until President Trump signed an executive order to “cease federal funding for PBS and NPR”.
PBS and NPR get $535 million in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. PBS receives about 15% of its funding from federal funds. The network is also funded by donations from viewers, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, and programming dues.
What about NPR? Their annual budget is $279 million. 36% comes from corporate sponsors. 30 percent comes from the program fees that stations pay for NPR shows. How about donations from “listeners like you”? About 23%. NPR gets 1% of their funding from the federal government, about $1.50 per citizen. However, member stations that license NPR’s content receive an average of 10 percent of their funding from the CPB.
In the last few years local newspapers and radio have been struggling, with fewer reporters covering state and local news. Area television stations have been sold to larger markets who want the bandwidth. We still read the Alliance Times-Herald and listen to KCOW, but with few reporters, they rely more on press releases all the time. It’s difficult to get local and state news from sources more reputable than social media.
Earl and I have been donors to Nebraska Public Media for decades. We watch shows on PBS and Passport and we listen to public radio. Nebraska Public Media broadcasts Nebraska news and stories from all over our state along with PBS programming. Every morning we hear Nebraska news on 91.1, our local NPR station, and we make sure we tune in, especially when the Legislature is in session.
We thought we could get news from Lincoln or Omaha via Paramount (CBS) or Peacock (NBC). However, they share Denver news. When our son was home from Lincoln, he tried logging into his accounts to get Lincoln news. They shifted him to Denver stations, too. Back to Nebraska Public Media to get our Nebraska news.
How did we end up with public broadcasting anyway? Radio and television shows were offered by commercial networks and supported by advertisers. In the 1960’s the Carnegie Corporation decided to launch a study to determine whether non-commercial television was feasible. There was little incentive for NBC, CBS, and ABC to offer educational programming. Carnegie’s recommendation was to create public stations across the country. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created by Congress in 1967, during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson.
President Trump and many Republicans contend that PBS and NPR are biased, although both have always enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress. The White House posted that public television and radio “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda.” However, independent analyses have found both PBS and NPR to be among the most objective and reliable news sources in America.
PBS has done a great job of helping to educate America’s children. NPR provides news and music no other radio stations offer. Both offer programming that sets them apart from commercial media. They deserve our continued support.