Elizabeth Jensen

When PBS arrived a half century ago, television was essentially a three-network game, and PBS thrived by championing programming and audiences ignored by NBC, CBS and ABC. But that distinctiveness has faded in today’s world of hundreds of cable channels and seemingly unlimited streaming services, many built after rivals saw the commercial value in PBS’s embrace of food lovers, costume drama obsessives, home improvement tinkerers and other niches.

Public television officials are raising the concern that the Federal Communications Commission’s planned spectrum incentive auction, intended to free airwaves for use by wireless broadband companies could leave parts of the country without over-the-air public television access.

The incentive auction, promising the possibility of millions of dollars to broadcast stations that give back some or all of their six megahertz of spectrum or move to another spot on the dial, will be open to commercial stations, as well. But the money could prove particularly enticing to public stations, many of which have tight budgets.

Public broadcasting officials worry that universities and states, including New Jersey, that hold public station licenses but are not primarily broadcasters may decide to give up some or all of their spectrum and use the proceeds for other needs, such as unfunded pension liabilities.

New York Public Radio has received a $10 million grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, which it says is the largest single gift ever made to a public radio station.

The foundation had previously given New York Public Radio two gifts totaling $11 million. The majority of the new grant, $8 million, is earmarked to support the development of digital operations, including a new feature called “Discover” on the WNYC mobile app. Designed originally with offline underground subway riders in mind, the feature will generate custom downloadable playlists for users who punch in the topics that interest them and the amount of time they want to listen. Developed in house, the feature will save listeners the trouble of searching for podcasts of public radio shows they already like.

Perhaps as important, it will help WNYC introduce users to content they may not be familiar with. It will also keep listeners within the WNYC ecosystem, where they can be encouraged to contribute financially.

“It’s our view, the board’s view, that we have this incredibly unique and special content,” he said by telephone, and digital technology can potentially help solve one of public radio’s biggest historical problems: much of that content is broadcast during hours when listeners are otherwise engaged and they never discover it. Digital can also be a way to reach younger listeners who may shun traditional radio listening, he said. The stations still get the majority of their audience from their terrestrial signals, but more and more public radio listening is migrating to digital, said Laura Walker, New York Public Radio’s chief executive.

[March 10]