I have spent 30 years in broadcasting. So when PBS leaders say they are “defunded but not defeated” and NPR’s chief executive defends the current system as essential to local journalism, I hear passion but not a plan.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is standing down after Congress eliminated its funding. The only way forward is to treat public media like a business: Cut legacy costs, reset executive culture and redirect dollars into journalism and education where audiences already are — online.
The numbers are clear. The 2017 FCC spectrum auction revealed the hidden value of legacy assets. Public TV licensees collected roughly $10 billion in payments to broadcasters.
WLVT in Pennsylvania received $82 million, KOCE in Los Angeles took in $49 million, and San Bernardino netted $157 million simply by moving to different frequencies. That was eight years ago, and it proved that spectrum and towers are worth more as assets than as relics.
Operating costs tell the same story. A 10- to 20-kilowatt FM transmitter burns through tens of thousands of dollars a year in electricity at current commercial rates; typical FM transmitter power output is 10–20 kilowatts.
Full-power TV sites can run several times that, before factoring in rent, maintenance and insurance. Ground leases on towers can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
In contrast, cloud distribution costs about 8 to 9 cents per gigabyte in North America. Millions of gigabytes can be delivered for seven figures — a fraction of what it takes to keep steel towers running.
The public has already shown a willingness to support digital membership. PBS Passport requires a $60 annual contribution or $5 per month and has become a reliable source of station revenue. Expand that to a unified account across NPR and PBS, add light paywalls for archives and early releases and integrate memberships nationally.
Most important, once the towers are gone, so are the broadcast restrictions. Public media could run real ads.
Federal Communications Commission rules for noncommercial radio and television stations prohibit promotional advertising and require noncommercial underwriting (e.g., no calls to action or pricing). But digital products aren’t bound by those on-air underwriting limits.
NPR podcasts already command a premium digital advertising cost per thousand of $20 to $30. High-quality video pre-rolls and display ads can fetch similar rates in many contexts. With NPR reaching tens of millions weekly, and PBS more than 100 million monthly, even a conservative ad load could generate hundreds of millions annually.
The balance is obvious: Keep ad loads low, ban sensitive categories and offer a paid membership that strips ads away. That dual system of ads plus membership is how the New York Times and Spotify thrive. It can work here too.
Executive culture must change as well. IRS 990 filings show PBS pays its CEO about $1.16 million, with other executives in the $500,000 to $750,000 range. NPR’s chief executive earns in the $500,000 to $600,000 band. These are commercial-market salaries, not public-service salaries. I would cut them in half, at least. The organization’s CEO need not make more than $400,000. An editor-in-chief can be hired for $300,000; chief technology officer for $300,000; a single revenue officer for $275,000; regional directors for $225,000, at most.
That structure would save millions annually and send the right message: Public media leaders are stewards, not celebrities.
The headquarters must move too. NPR’s Washington building runs about 330,000 square feet, with comparable D.C. office rents near $60 per square foot.
District premium markets run much higher than in the Midwest. PBS holds about 120,000 square feet in Arlington under long-term lease. In St. Louis, comparable space is closer to $22 per square foot, roughly one-third of the D.C. rate.
Relocating to St. Louis, Columbus or Kansas City — anywhere central, affordable and connected — would save millions a year and put leadership closer to the heart of the country.
Localism does not vanish in this model — it strengthens. Instead of propping up dozens of under-resourced stations, I would build 12 regional digital hubs. Each would provide shared engineers, editors and educators, supporting local reporting and curriculum development with world-class tools.
A climate data story from South Dakota or a maternal health series from Mississippi would flow through the same system, distributed nationally with uniform technical power. NPR could become the nation’s news desk, PBS the nation’s classroom.
This is the business case for digital public media.
Sell the towers. Bank the spectrum value. Cut operating costs tied to transmitters. Reset executive pay. Move headquarters out of expensive Washington. Expand proven membership models and add real advertising revenue. Build regional hubs that preserve local reporting and teaching with lower overhead.
To protect and grow public media for the next generation, public media cannot afford to measure itself by what it has lost. It must measure itself by what it can become.
Erik Cudd is a three-decade radio broadcaster, journalist, communications professional and FCC extra class licensed HAM operator. He writes about media, policy, public safety and politics.
