A recent Corporation for Public Broadcasting report on public broadcasting revenue shows contributions to public radio station are on the increase and catching up to that of public television.
From 2002-2012, public radio’s total contributions rose consistently over from $216 million to $379 million. Public television’s contributions were $403 million in 2012 and $360 million in 2002. Public radio had 2.84 million contributors in 2012, up from 2.4 million in 2002. Public television contributors fell from 4 million to 2.98 million over the same period.
See the report here, from Current.org:
RBR-TVBR observation: It stands to reason. NPR affiliate rankings in many markets across the country are consistently high on the list, as listeners continue to migrate to the spoken word and find music on their smartphones, rather than the radio dial. NPR stations deliver relevant news/traffic/weather and deeper features than your typical news-talk stations. Meanwhile, with the proliferation of PBS-type of content being found on new cable networks such as H2 and the National Geographic channels, viewers to PBS are in decline.
