Forty Years of Public Broadcasting

On November 7, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Its purpose was to give a voice to the voiceless and establish radio and television stations that would be free of corporate interests and partisan influence. Tonight on the Front Porch, we’ll look at the past forty years of public broadcasting and discuss whether the CPB has lived up to its lofty goals.

Our guest is Jack W. Mitchell, author of Listener Supported: The Culture and History of Public Radio. Jack is professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also the very first employee of National Public Radio, and the original producer of All Things Considered.