Why a merger made sense now for GBH and New England Public Media

Concerns about financial resources and questions about how best to serve the state of Massachusetts were key factors behind the merger of GBH in Boston and New England Public Media in Springfield, Mass.

GBH CEO Susan Goldberg said that she and NEPM President Matt Abramovitz began discussing the idea informally shortly after she became GBH’s leader in late 2022. Members of both stations’ boards also had conversations.

“I think this has been a long journey, certainly spurred by federal defunding,” Goldberg said. “But I think even without federal defunding, this just seems so much like the right move as a way to operate in the most efficient way possible while retaining the essential local service that we provide in every market.”

Announced last week, the merger builds on a years-long connection between the entities. NEPM was formed in 2019 through a reorganization involving New England Public Radio, then licensed to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and WGBY-TV in Springfield, licensed to the GBH Educational Foundation. The organizations retained ownership of the licenses as part of the restructuring.

Because they already shared a connection, the stations didn’t work with outside consultants. “One thing led to another,” Goldberg said, but “when federal defunding happened, it just sort of made it even more clear — like, ‘Come on, let’s do this thing.’”

“Every leader at a public media station right now is wondering, ‘How can we do things differently?’” Abramovitz said. “I’ve been fortunate in having thought partners at GBH through this whole period helping to ask and answer those questions.”

A new approach since rescission

The organizations already share a financial relationship that has helped to sustain NEPM. According to financial statements, NEPM received about $2.8 million in equity transfers from GBH Educational Foundation in fiscal year 2025, including $1.5 million in in-kind support. Without that support, NEPM would have seen a larger decrease in net assets than the roughly $1 million decline it reported.

The statement also shows that NEPM gained access to an $8 million line of credit in 2024 “in conjunction” with GBH. NEPM’s Abramovitz said the merger is important for the financial health of both organizations. Beyond just saving administrative costs, it will allow for more underwriting opportunities and content collaborations and could result in a net reduction in membership fees to PBS and NPR.

Staff at both organizations will also benefit, he said.

“We now will have a community of practice for all of our staffers in a different way than we could do as a standalone,” he said. “Here we might have a digital producer, but now that digital producer has colleagues who do the same work, are thinking about the same things, and they can work together, give each other feedback, and build professionally and personally relationships that pay dividends in a way that they can’t when we’re just all working in our individual silos.”

Abramovitz has led NEPM since 2022. As part of the merger agreement, he will remain president but will also become VP of audience strategy and operations for GBH.

“There are other examples in the public media space of statewide networks that work great and they do serve all their markets,” he said. “We’re trying to do things a little bit differently by preserving these local brands that are in the Cape Islands, that are in Boston, that are out here in Western Mass, and by trying to make them as great as they can to support this statewide network that can deliver even more to the audience.”

Lessons will be learned over time, he said.

“We are trying to make big structural changes in the way public media functions, and that takes some time,” Abramovitz said. “Some decisions you can make quickly, but a lot of things just take weeks, months, years to sort out. So I don’t think I can tell you right now what the merger is going to look like in 12 or 18 months, but I’m really happy to be starting on this path, because I think it’s the right one for us.”

GBH’s Goldberg recently floated an idea for another merger that so far has not come to fruition. She told the Boston Globe in March that merging with Boston public radio station WBUR would “make a lot of sense.”

WBUR CEO Margaret Low told staff in a March 12 memo shared with Current that there were “no plans to merge. Full stop.”