Two Public Broadcasting Veterans See Path Forward for NPR and PBS

On this week's episode of "White House Chronicle," the independently produced show on PBS, the co-hosts suggest more local talent and pay-per-view for PBS.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, July 24, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Part of the future mission of public broadcasting —radio and television — should be as an on-ramp for talent.

That is one of suggestions of two veteran broadcasters, who discussed the Trump administration’s defunding of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service on this week’s episode of the television program “White House Chronicle.”

The episode will air beginning on Friday, July 25, and into next week on select PBS and public, educational and government (PEG) cable access channels; and four times on the weekend on SiriusXM Radio’s P.O.T.U.S., Channel 124.

Llewellyn King, creator, host and executive producer of “White House Chronicle,” admits in the episode that he has sometimes been critical of PBS in both his syndicated newspaper column and broadcasts. He says he has drawn attention to what he considers to be insensitivity to new entrants and independent producers, refusing to list their programs as PBS fare, even though they are distributed to member stations on the PBS satellite, and not responding to letters and other communications.

However, King says, he has meant his criticism to be constructive; he wants PBS to mend not end. He calls the cutting of federal support for PBS and its radio sister, NPR, a philistine tragedy.

In the episode Adam Clayton Powell III, a public broadcasting savant, details the history of PBS and NPR. Powell was at the launch of PBS on Oct. 5, 1970 and later managed PBS stations in Washington and San Francisco.

At NPR, Powell was a vice president and news director during its climb back from near-bankruptcy in 1983. Both King and Powell agreed that as a journalistic outlet, there is a lot to be said for radio’s immediacy over the technical limitations of print and television.

Powell praised the role of Minnesota Public Radio and its president emeritus, Bill Kling, who brought many innovative programs to NPR, including “A Prairie Home Companion.”

King praised WHUT in Washington, D.C., Howard University’s television station, for presenting his creation, “White House Chronicle,” especially for having signed on to airing it after viewing just a pilot episode.

He said the reception he got at WHUT 28 years ago was the kind of "on-ramp" he wished was more common in public broadcasting,

Both he and Powell agree that local stations need to look more to local performers, amateur and professional, for new talent.

President Trump has been a vocal critic of public broadcasting and has derided it as biased. The administration used bias as its rationale for the defunding of public broadcasting, which will hurt all stations and those in rural areas most severely.

Early in the episode, King makes the point that he has found no bias in public broadcasting news programs, and they endeavor to be fair. "The aim of journalism is to be fair, and public broadcasting has met that standard," he says.

King and Powell agree that PBS needs a younger audience — not just excellent shows for kids. They both feel that on-demand is the future of television, public and commercial, and maybe pay-per-view, as print has found out.

On an upbeat note, Powell says the administration’s defunding of NPR and PBS doesn’t mean the end of them.

Llewellyn King
White House Media LLC
+1 202-441-2702
llewellynking1@gmail.com
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