About Public Media

How the Works Progress Administration played a critical role in WNYC's history

By Andy Lanset, Director (New York Public Radio Archives) | October 31, 2019

The New York station may not have survived the Great Depression without help from the federal government.

New exhibit takes visitors behind the scenes of Maryland Public Television's 50-year history

With help from Peter Rabbit and fairy princesses, a pioneering educator showed how radio could teach

Looking back on the lesser-known histories of 'Chicano Public Radio'

In 1970, riots and tear gas couldn't sideline Ohio's WOSU — but its licensee's president did

Current Crossword: ‘Tribute’

By Brian Herrick, Freelance Contributor | October 4, 2019

We can’t tell you much about our latest crossword, other than: Give it a try!

Rewind: The Roots of Public Media

How France’s national broadcaster bolstered U.S. public radio in its formative years

By Derek W. Vaillant, Professor of Communication and History (University of Michigan) | June 5, 2019

From the 1940s to the 1970s, dozens of U.S. public radio stations featured French cultural programming that “let us know that the French people like us and vice versa.”

Try our first pubmedia-themed crossword puzzle

By Brian Herrick, Freelance Contributor | February 22, 2019

Look out, Will Shortz, there’s a new puzzle master in town.

A DJ looks back on 50 years on jazz radio in the nation’s capital

By Rusty Hassan, Host (WPFW) | February 12, 2019

Rusty Hassan has seen shows and stations come and go during his long career on Washington, D.C., airwaves, and he’s still at it.

Rewind: The Roots of Public Media

‘The World Is Yours’: How the travelogue shaped early public broadcasting

By Katie Day Good, Assistant Professor (Department of Media, Journalism and Film, Miami University of Ohio) | December 14, 2018

The globetrotting quality of public media is neither new nor politically neutral and has roots in the earliest days of American broadcasting.

Our timeline chronicles the premieres, scandals and scuffles that made public media what it is today

By Mike Janssen, Digital Editor, Karen Everhart, Managing Editor and Steve Behrens, Former Editor | August 2, 2018

From Guglielmo Marconi to Jarl Mohn, dive into our multimedia roundup of public media’s milestones and lesser-known escapades.

Read this shockingly prescient 1970 mission statement for the precursor to NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’

By Adam Ragusea, Journalist in Residence and Visiting Assistant Professor, Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism | July 9, 2018

In a previously unpublished grant application, NPR founding father Bill Siemering proposed a show on WBFO in Buffalo, N.Y., “growing out of the need for cross-cultural communication and capitalizing on the unique characteristics of public radio.”

Rewind: The Roots of Public Media

The survival of public broadcasting’s legacy has long been part of its mission

By Laura Schnitker, Audiovisual Archivist and Curator of Mass Media & Culture (Special Collections at the University of Maryland Libraries) | March 1, 2018

The National Public Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland reflect an inherent dedication to preservation.

History of public media

How President Johnson set the stage for passage of the Public Broadcasting Act

By Joseph Califano Jr. | May 5, 2017

Only eight months after LBJ called on lawmakers to support his bill creating CPB, the measure passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support.