Podcasts can save public media (seriously)

Public media outlets entered 2025 on a wave of unease between declining on-air audience, waning underwriting revenue, post-election news fatigue, and the looming uncertainty about federal funding. The latter sadly became a reality on July 18 when Congress voted to claw back $1.1 billion in public media funding, leaving NPR, PBS, and more than 400 member stations across the country to figure out what to do next.

John Oliver won’t always be able to auction off $1 million Bob Ross paintings in support of public media. Elvira likely doesn’t have multiple Teslas to donate to NPR. And while audiences have stepped up to help bolster their local stations, public media can’t rely on pledge drives and the “good old ways” of keeping budgets intact when they’re competing for the same fundraising pool as a growing list of Substack writers, Patreon creators, and other independent and for-profit media. And without these funds, 15% of public media stations are at risk of closing in the next three years, particularly in news deserts, rural communities, and tribal areas.

The clock is ticking. It’s time for a radical reconstruction of public media: what it can do, why it matters, and how it can sustain itself for the benefit of its community. Stations need a sustainable source for growth, both in audience and revenue. In 2026, podcasts can be that guiding light at the end of 2025’s very dark tunnel.

Yes, public radio is considered the godparent of modern-day podcasting, playing a pivotal role in nurturing up-and-comers who would eventually become audio icons and producing some of the most critically-acclaimed and beloved series found in your favorite app. But along the way, public media got left behind as podcast monetization strategies took off, dynamic ad insertion (DAI) and attribution technology became commonplace, and various digital publishers rose up to meet content demands as audiences continued to turn to on-demand audio for their news and entertainment. But it’s not too late.

I say that from experience, as someone who has worked in, around, and with public media for 15 years. More recently, The Podglomerate has been able to fortify the podcast strategy and growth of countless public media organizations, ranging from PBS and NPR to New Hampshire Public Radio’s duPont-Columbia Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize honoree The 13th Step. The key to success? Stations need to stop treating podcasts as a side project to broadcast and instead build a core strategy around their podcasts that includes dedicated production, marketing/audience growth, and monetization.

Specifically, public media needs to unlock its podcast revenue potential. It’s time to throw out preconceived notions of underwriting (the non-profit equivalent of advertising, with restrictions on what can be said). The FCC’s regulation for underwriting only applies to licensed, local broadcast outlets that transmit through the airwaves, but that does not apply to on-demand audio and podcasts. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), podcast advertising is projected to surpass $3 billion by 2026, with marketers and organizations of all shapes and sizes pouring money into podcast advertising because of the effectiveness of this intimate medium. And that doesn’t account for the various types of podcast ads, services, and tech that can maximize podcast monetization. Without pursuing these options, public media stations are leaving millions of dollars off the table that could further support their podcasts, their staff, and their audiences. So heed the words of public media podcast leaders: there are easy, affordable, and impactful ways to generate sustainable revenue from your podcast feed without sacrificing content quality or burning down the editorial firewall.

Because by the end of 2026, the public media organizations in the strongest position will be the ones that treat podcasts as their primary growth engine and their broadcast signal as one of many powerful ways to deliver that work into their community’s lives.