WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 2, 2025) – Twenty-five public media stations from across the country will begin training this week in the new 2025 Advanced Track of the second phase of the Digital Transformation Program (DTP), delivered by the Poynter Institute.
The DTP, designed in partnership with and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), educates and coaches public media leaders on the best strategies and tactics to transform their organizations’ digital operations to meet the evolving needs of local audiences. The Advanced Track, for stations that have completed a previous digital transformation program, will help stations deepen their digital capabilities. The goals include greater growth by increasing audience engagement, enhancing revenue from digital platforms, and advancing data and analytic skills to understand local audiences’ behaviors and preferences.
“Through this program, public media stations will further develop innovative digital strategies and use data to create and distribute unique local public media content and services across platforms, reaching and serving new audiences,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “The Advanced Track will help stations enhance their digital presence.”
Poynter President Neil Brown said: “Poynter is pleased to welcome back these public media professionals to the program as part of our partnership with CPB. We’re proud to be able to help these stations take their digital focus to the next level and build deeper connections with their community as well as grow revenues to strengthen their financial foundations.”
In 2022-23, CPB supported the Digital Transformation Program, developed and implemented by the Poynter Institute in conjunction with CPB, which trained 79 public media entities and 458 station personnel. DTP’s second phase, including the Advanced Track, can accommodate up to 225 public media station leaders and their staff over the next three years.
The stations in the six-month virtual Advanced Track program, which begins on June 4 and ends in November, are:
- Buffalo Toronto Public Media (Buffalo, NY)
- Interlochen Public Radio (Interlochen, MI)
- KAXE-FM (Grand Rapids, MN)
- KNBA-FM/Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (Anchorage, AK)
- KOSU-FM (Stillwater, OK)
- Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, MD)
- Nashville PBS (Nashville, TN)
- New Hampshire Public Radio (Concord, NH)
- Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting (WESA and WYEP), PA
- Rocky Mountain Public Media (Denver, CO)
- Texas Public Radio (San Antonio, TX)
- The WNET Group (New York, NY)
- Twin Cities PBS (St. Paul, MN)
- WABE (Atlanta, GA)
- WEDU PBS (Tampa, FL)
- WERU Community Radio (East Orland, ME)
- WFSU Public Media (Tallahassee, FL)
- WGCU Public Media (Fort Myers, FL)
- WGVU Public Media (Grand Rapids, MI)
- WJCT Public Media (Jacksonville, FL)
- WKAR Public Media (East Lansing, MI)
- WPSU (University Park, PA)
- WUSF (Tampa, FL)
- WXXI Public Broadcasting (Rochester, NY)
- Yellowstone Public Radio (Billings, MT)
About the Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
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About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and subscribe for email updates.
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