Politics and Poster Children: A Historical Assessment of Radio Outcomes in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

• Published in: Journal of radio & audio media 2017-07, Vol.24 (2), p.213-225
• Main Author: Huntsberger, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1937-6529; 1937-6537
• DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2017.1362854

Just over half of the noncommercial radio stations in the United States contributed in some way to the lobbying campaign that led to the inclusion of radio in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Most of these stations were associated with educational institutions, and were uniformly represented to federal authorities as "educational radio," though the universe of noncommercial stations in the late 1960s was more nuanced and diverse. When federal financial assistance was finally achieved, the programs proved to be too exclusive or too expensive for some of the parties who had helped to move the Act from conception to reality. In the decades following enactment, activists for community, low power, and part time stations endeavored to correct the problems that grew out of the original legislation. For audiences, the primary consequence has been a public radio system that is less inclusive and diverse than it could have been.