Blog: Public Media Must Outgrow 1967 Broadcast Model

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, August 14, 2025 | 1:18pm CT

Seth Resler

Public media's mission has always been clear: create content that educates, informs, and serves the public interest, especially where the free market won't. But Seth Resler, Community Building Consultant at Paragon, argues that decades of tying this mission almost exclusively to radio and television are now holding it back.

When the Public Broadcasting Act passed in 1967, concentrating public investment in linear broadcasting made sense. Today, audiences consume media far beyond the reach of traditional airwaves -- through podcasts, YouTube, newsletters, and online communities. Meanwhile, the costs of maintaining 24/7 broadcast infrastructure are rising, and revenue from continuous transmission is in long-term decline.

Resler notes that the current model forces local stations to devote limited budgets to outdated equipment, diverting resources from local journalism at a time when communities need it most. He points out that the needs public media was designed to meet have shifted dramatically. For example, where public television once filled a gap in educational programming for children, today's parents can access hours of quality content online for free.

Instead of adding digital content to an old framework, Resler calls for designing a system that starts with the mission and then selects the most effective platforms and formats for today's audience. That could mean following audiences across platforms, focusing on depth over volume, and investing in interactive formats that encourage participation rather than passive consumption.

"The mission matters more than the medium," Resler writes, urging public media to build from where it should go, not where it has been, to serve the next generation as effectively as it served the last.

Read the full blog post here.