Since the 1920s, people across the United States have started public broadcasting services to advance high-quality programming, respond to community needs, and serve all Americans.
Today’s public media system began to take shape more than 50 years ago, with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which authorized the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The system now reaches nearly 99% of the U.S. population with free programming and services. Public media creates and distributes content that is for, by and about Americans of a wide range of backgrounds; and provides services that foster dialogue among the stations and the communities they serve. In addition to providing free high-quality, educational programming for children, arts, and award winning current affairs programming, public media stations provide life-saving emergency alert services.
Public media remains America’s most trusted institution for news and educational programming.
How the system works
Public media is a system of independently managed and operated local public radio and television stations. In rural, Native American and Island communities, public broadcasting stations are often the only locally owned and operated media outlets. Stations can choose to become PBS or NPR member stations, but do not have to join either organization.
Public media is a public-private partnership in which 1,216 public radio stations and 365 public television stations receive Community Service Grants (CSGs) from CPB and raise money from a variety of other sources. CPB’s role is to deliver federal support in a way that does not affect a station’s ability to operate independently. CPB also provides funding to producers of programming but cannot distribute or broadcast it.
In addition, CPB funds public radio and public television interconnection systems that provide a delivery infrastructure for broadcast content and emergency alerts. Local stations are responsible for distributing content to their listeners and viewers.
Each local public media station maintains sole authority and responsibility for selecting, presenting, and scheduling the programs that it airs. Along with programs that they produce themselves, public television stations choose their programs from some of the following sources:
- PBS, which provides children's, primetime, educational, and cultural programming. This includes programming produced by stations such as GBH, WETA, and the WNET Group.
- American Public Television, which acquires programs that may be purchased by stations on a title-by-title basis. APT also maintains the largest source of free programming available to U.S. public television stations.
- The Independent Television Service (ITVS), which funds, distributes and promotes independently produced programs.
- The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), which annually distributes produced by public television stations, other entities and independent producers.
Public radio stations also get their programming from a variety of sources, including producing their own programming, and from NPR, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and American Public Media (APM).
- In addition to broadcasting programming, public media reaches all Americans on digital and mobile platforms with content that educates, informs, and strengthens our nation’s civic health.
How to Support Public Media
Public media stations produce the content and services they provide to communities across the country with funding from CPB’s federal appropriation, state and local governments, and contributions from individuals and underwriters.
By law, 95% of the federal appropriation CPB receives goes to local television and radio stations, programming, and improvements to the public broadcasting system.
CPB receives donations from time to time, which is used to support the health and overall efficiency of the public media system. CPB encourages donors to support their local stations because public media is fundamentally community based, with local stations focusing on what their communities need and care about. You can find your local station here.