Public Radio Turns 50: Introduction to the Symposium

This special Journal of Radio & Audio Media symposium marks the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which was signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on November 7, 1967 (U.S. Congress, 1967). The five articles that follow emphasize the impact of the 1967 act upon the development of the U.S. public radio system.

This is a particularly inflected moment for such an assessment. Public broadcasting is again under political siege at this writing, in the face of challenge from the Trump administration. Public radio and television continue to grapple with the vagaries of the technological transition and the attendant challenge of attracting a younger, “digital-first” audience (Stavitsky, 2012). In contrast to the limited quantity and quality of broadcasting options in 1967, today’s public broadcasting consumer has a remarkable collection of quality commercial choices, such as satellite radio and online streaming for the listener, and pay cable and subscription services like Netflix for the viewer. And the contemporary networked-communication ecology includes a range of digital-native firms, with public service values similar to those of public broadcasting, and which provide competition in terms of audience attention and funding (Lowe & Stavitsky, 2016).

Nonetheless, U.S. public radio seems revitalized by this American moment. Audiences are growing, on air and online (Falk, 2017). Firms are extending their reach by engaging in local, regional, and national-level partnerships, notably the joint NPR/PBS coverage of the 2016 elections, as well as station-based alliances with digital-native entities and community organizations. As with other legacy media firms—including the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN—there is renewed journalistic rigor and vigor in covering the national political ferment. And podcasting has emerged as a popular genre, attractive to younger listeners, with the form driven largely by public radio producers (though some have left the system to found commercial companies).

To what extent is this contemporary mediascape a logical progression of what was set in motion by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967? Or has this vitality happened largely in spite of the act? The industrial perspective holds that the act revitalized a dispersed, largely moribund collection of what were then known as educational broadcasting stations, and established a national public broadcasting system that is an important component of the U.S. media environment (see, for example, Califano, 2017; Mitchell, 2005). The view of much critical scholarship, on the other hand, argues that the act resulted in chronic underfunding, political meddling and a lack of vision (see, for example, McChesney, 2014; Rowland, 1986), representing a missed opportunity to establish a meaningful alternative to the dominant commercial model.

This symposium seeks to contribute to the historiography of the act and to address these threshold questions in different contexts. In the opening article, “The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967: Radio’s Real Second Chance,” Robert K. Avery, author and co-author of some of the seminal historical scholarship on public broadcasting, provides, in effect, the “prequel” to the act. Avery relates the story of the educational radio sector’s struggles for survival until its inclusion in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 offered an opportunity for rebirth. In the second article, “A Social Democratic Vision of Media: Toward a Radical Pre-history of Public Broadcasting,” Victor Pickard revisits the normative foundations of noncommercial media and highlights a social democratic vision that was lost when corporate libertarianism became the dominant paradigm. Pickard argues that a social democratic narrative is much needed today in making a strong case for subsidizing public media.

Michael Huntsberger’s article, “Politics and Poster Children: A Historical Assessment of Radio Outcomes in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967,” notes that implementation of the act resulted in radio haves and have nots. Huntsberger argues that Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding criteria privileged the educational radio stations licensed to colleges and universities, at the expense of community and low-power stations, resulting in a public radio system that was less inclusive and diverse than it could have been. In “Latino Airwaves: Radio Bilingüe and Spanish-Language Public Radio,” Sonia De La Cruz argues that CPB’s Task Force on Minorities was influential in developing policies that brought minority voices to public radio. She provides the case of Radio Bilingüe, a pioneering Spanish-language station operated by and for Latino citizens and communities.

The symposium concludes with Donica Mensing’s article, “Public Radio at a Crossroads: Emerging Trends in U.S. Public Media.” She argues that the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 no longer provides a viable policy framework for public radio, in light of technological and economic trends as well as the transition from a public broadcasting system to a public media platform. Mensing proposes paths forward for public radio and calls for continued experimentation.

At this retrospective moment, it is heartening to see a revival of scholarship about public radio. The field offers rich possibilities for research and an opportunity to contribute to important social and political deliberation.

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Notes on contributors

Alan G. Stavitsky

Alan G. Stavitsky (Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1990) is dean and Fred W. Smith Chair of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. He served as guest editor of this symposium. His research interests include public media history and policy, and journalism ethics.