{"id":4405,"date":"2026-07-06T15:08:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4405"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:08:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:08:30","slug":"after-years-of-cuts-gbh-touts-growth-in-donors-and-launches-statewide-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4405","title":{"rendered":"After years of cuts, GBH touts growth in donors and launches statewide show"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the past few years, the news out of GBH\u2019s Brighton studios has been bleak. Layoffs, suspended shows, and the loss of federal funding have concerned staff and supporters about the viability of the Boston public media giant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more MLB made right call on fight between Cade Cavalli and Willson Contreras, and other Red Sox thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n

But a string of recent updates shows that the organization has, at least for now, stabilized itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the public funding cuts have cost the NPR and PBS station an estimated $20 million per year, chief executive Susan Goldberg said in an interview last week, the station has brought on more than 57,000 new paying members since the start of last year. During the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, GBH raised $10 million more than it normally does. A year prior, it generated just over $50 million in revenue from member donations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The organization has also launched a new statewide radio show following its merger with New England Public Media of Western Massachusetts and received new funding from Beacon Hill. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I dreaded where we were a year ago, right before defunding, what I think we\u2019ve seen is that we are innovating our way through a crisis,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cOur staff has just done a really good job in tackling the situation and taken a lot of lemons and made a lot of lemonade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the largest public media organizations in the country, GBH had a cushion that some smaller stations lacked. But its resilience following the loss of federal funding will be a relief in other corners of the industry because of GBH\u2019s outsized role in public media. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe success of GBH as a national content producer really is critical to the system overall,\u201d said Marc Hand, chief executive of Public Media Venture Group, a consortium of 32 stations that includes GBH.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders across public media feared the worst when President Trump signed a law rescinding federal funding for public media a year ago. Stations in rural areas that benefited most from public funding were most vulnerable, and leaders worried those problems could cascade because of how reliant stations are on their peers for funding. <\/span><\/p>\n

Donors, however, have stepped up with funding to keep stations small and large afloat.<\/span><\/p>\n

GBH\u2018s fund-raising gains, which give the organization a total of 250,000 members, aren\u2019t enough to make up the $20 million of lost revenue on their own, said Goldberg, who added those losses could expand if the recent surges in fund-raising don\u2019t hold up. But she added that the organization is experimenting with new revenue streams to help fill the rest of the gap.<\/span><\/p>\n

One such gambit is advertising sales on YouTube. While that\u2019s hardly a new revenue stream for media outlets, Federal Communications Commission guidelines have restricted NPR and PBS stations from airing ads during broadcasts. But those rules don\u2019t apply to digital.<\/span><\/p>\n

That does come with some risk to the trust that noncommercial stations have built up with audiences, Hand said. He added that one way to responsibly tap into digital revenue is to exert some control over the types of companies that can advertise in its content.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so far at GBH, \u201cpeople don\u2019t seem to mind the advertising\u201d on YouTube because they\u2019re used to seeing ads on the platform, Goldberg said.<\/span><\/p>\n

GBH is still trying to keep expenses in check: It\u2019s looking to bring on staff for some roles, but it\u2019s not making a big hiring push. It gave 3 percent raises to staff, following similar raises in the previous two years, a spokesperson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Governor Ayotte\u2019s veto stack grows taller than Sununu\u2019s ever was with Republican-majority N.H. Legislature<\/a><\/p>\n

WBUR, Boston\u2019s other NPR news station, has also seen a jump in donors. Its membership has increased nearly 19 percent from a year ago and the station met its $1.1 million spring fund-raising goal in just four and a half days, a WBUR spokesperson told the Globe. Additionally, the station held its second annual WBUR Festival, which sold 2,500 tickets \u2014 nearly half of which were sold to people who were not previously in the station\u2019s database.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been blown away by the outpouring of support and WBUR is on a roll,\u201d WBUR chief executive Margaret Low said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re staying true to our principles, adapting our business to support the high-quality journalism that we produce, and expanding the audiences who count on us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

WBUR is one of the most prominent NPR news stations in the country,with national shows such as \u201cHere & Now\u201d and \u201cOn Point.\u201d But as both a PBS and NPR station, GBH is a larger organization and has more ties to broader public media networks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the wake of the public funding cuts, GBH has also found other government revenue \u2014 though this income is much closer to home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, Governor Maura Healey signed into law a supplemental budget that included funding for some educational programs from revenue generated by the Commonwealth\u2019s \u201cmillionaire\u2019s tax.\u201d The Legislature appropriated $500,000 of the $1.35 billion surtax revenue for \u201ceducational public media resources\u201d at GBH, which Axios first reported in early June.<\/span><\/p>\n

The funding will go toward children\u2019s educational programming \u2014 GBH is a significant producer of children\u2019s shows such as \u201cWork It Out Wombats\u201d and \u201cMolly of Denali\u201d \u2014 that was previously funded by Ready to Learn grants, one of the federal programs canceled by the Trump administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe at GBH had never received state funding before,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cThat boost from the state really helped us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond funding, GBH is also expanding its programming. After launching radio program \u201cThe Curiosity Desk\u201d earlier this year, the organization will begin airing the statewide radio show \u201cIn Common\u201d on July 4 in partnership with two of its other owned stations, New England Public Media and CAI, the latter of which covers Cape Cod, Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show, hosted by Jeremy Siegel, will \u201ctake listeners on a sonic road trip across the state\u201d in the format of a one-hour program, according to the announcement, which builds on efforts to expand coverage across Massachusetts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of these corners of the Commonwealth that we only go to \u2014 and we, I say broadly speaking, the media \u2014 whenever there\u2019s a big breaking news story,\u201d said Dan Lothian, editor in chief and general manager of local news at GBH. \u201cAs we look to where we want to be with the statewide effort, I think we\u2019re just touching on the tip of the iceberg here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The show\u2019s launch also follows a May announcement that GBH was fully merging with New England Public Media. GBH has owned NEPM since 2019, but the two entities have operated with independent boards and filed separate taxes. The merger is expected to go through this month, Goldberg said Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Goldberg floated the idea of merging with WBUR, a prospect that WBUR chief executive Margaret Low firmly shut down. While Goldberg wants to focus on the merger with NEPM and other recent efforts, she noted that there are other merger efforts across the country in states including Texas and Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get our own house in order, and then we\u2019ll see where we are,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Belgian federation to challenge FIFA\u2019s decision to let Folarin Balogun play in World Cup match<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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