Clinging to distribution is costing NPR a chance to focus on its strengths

This commentary was first published on the author’s LinkedIn page and is republished here with permission.

CPB gave NPR a gift. NPR thanked them with a restraining order.  

This may be an odd way to describe losing out on a $57.9 million interconnection and technology grant awarded by CPB to the newly formed organization Public Media Infrastructure instead of NPR. But hear me out.

NPR has historically wrestled with a strategic tension between its role producing programming available only to member stations and providing distribution and a few other services to a broader ecosystem that includes those that don’t buy its programming.

The public radio ecosystem (defined as those previously qualified to receive CPB funding) is around 385 organizations, while NPR has about 250 members. The public radio ecosystem is about 50% larger than what NPR would refer to as the “NPR Network.”

The Public Radio Satellite Service (PRSS) is operated by NPR with federal funds. It is required to serve all 385 CPB grantees regardless of whether they buy programs from NPR or pay membership fees.

PRSS has worked well for 40 years, even with this tension, and has offered reliable satellite distribution services. But times have changed with public media becoming more digital and less broadcast-focused. Over 40 years, NPR has undergone a transformation from a producer of an eclectic range of programming to a significant news organization.

Change requires new approaches. Public media needs a different set of technical tools now and going forward. To its credit, NPR has tried to expand its products and services. But it hasn’t been an easy road.

Beginning in 2019, CPB provided a significant grant to NPR to create a content management system for public media. This system, known as Grove, is designed to serve the needs of all CPB-qualified radio grantees (including those that are not NPR members) and all television grantees. That’s a tall order.

It’s made some progress. Grove is operational in about 200 radio stations and joint licensees. But due to COVID, layoffs, management turnover and more over the course of the grant, the rollout of the system has been very slow. This has been painful to watch and likely very painful for NPR to manage.

NPR’s strategic focus now is on creating stronger bonds and more impactful journalism with its member stations. This is the right strategy that builds on public radio’s competitive advantage in local and national journalism. Achieving success in this strategy does not require NPR to support the distribution and technology needs of the broader public media ecosystem or of its members, for that matter. The Grove experience indicates that creating and supporting tech for public media is not a core strength. With strategy, it’s generally best to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses.

By not awarding the grant, CPB provided NPR with a graceful off-ramp. NPR could have shed functions that don’t align with its strategy with the assurance that current and future distribution services (and much more) would be in good hands. By seeking a restraining order, it has doubled down on the status quo, caused significant expenditure of resources and put key relationships at risk.

I’m no lawyer, so I can’t provide the odds of NPR succeeding in court. But I hope the court throws this out pronto so we can get back to the critical reinvention of public media in the impending post-CPB era. We have little time to waste.

Steve Bass served as president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting from 2006 to 2024. He began his public media career at WHA in Madison, Wis., and spent a decade at PBS, seven years at GBH in Boston and seven years at Nashville Public Television. He also served on the boards of NPR, PRX and the Station Resource Group, and chaired the boards of Greater Public and America’s Public Television Stations.