We're Officially Asking CPB for Station Records - Here's Why
Semipublic sent a records request to CPB requesting AFR, FSR, SAS, and SABS data submitted by grantee stations from fiscal year 2024.
This morning, Semipublic, along with the State of Local News Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, submitted a records request to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting asking for financial and operating data submitted by grantee stations in preparation for the upcoming fiscal year. Specifically, we’re asking for copies of FY24 data gathered through Annual Financial Reports (AFR), Financial Summary Reports (FSR), Station Activity Surveys (SAS), and Station Activities Benchmarking Surveys (SABS), as entered into and stored within CPB’s Integrated Station Information System (ISIS).
Here’s the letter we sent to CPB:
Why We’re Asking for Station Data
Public media is in crisis and this data will be invaluable for helping the industry survive and evolve. Already, industry leaders are using historical CPB data to understand the current landscape and chart a new path forward after the loss of federal funding. But that data is mostly from FY23 - including the dataset compiled by Semipublic - making it woefully outdated. FY24 data is the last, best record of public media’s finances and operations, and is absolutely essential for aiding the industry’s survival.
We believe our records request is aligned with the spirit of the law. Although CPB is explicitly exempted from fulfilling FOIA requests, we believe that the statutes requiring public disclosure of certain information by public media stations - specifically 47 U.S.C. § 396(k)(5) and 47 U.S.C. § 396(k)(11)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 (as amended by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, et al) - provide an expectation of transparency within the public media industry that the end of federal funding threatens to disrupt.
Time is running out. CPB recently announced that “the majority of staff positions will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025.” We have reason to believe that many of those positions will actually terminate during the weekend of Friday, September 26 - several days earlier. Once CPB’s staff is reduced in three weeks, the chances of receiving any data at all are slim to none.
This data will be available for everybody. As I wrote on Labor Day, Semipublic has made a public commitment to always making CPB data free and easily accessible. Any data received as part of this records request will be placed on a public platform without a paywall so that everyone - whether in or outside of public media - can obtain a copy. We are also pledging to work with CPB to address any concerns they might have about potentially sensitive information contained within the requested data.
Which Data We’re Asking For
The system CPB uses to collect and store much of their station data is called the Integrated Station Information System (ISIS). Inside this system, we’re asking for data entered for the following forms:
Annual Financial Reports (AFR): An extensive form crafted by CPB for public television and radio stations to report various revenues and expenses. Questions vary slightly based on whether the respondent is a television or radio station.
Financial Summary Reports (FSR): A less-extensive form to report various revenues and expenses for public radio stations only. Radio stations can either submit an AFR or FSR to receive a Community Service Grant, the latter being reserved for stations with a smaller total revenue.
Station Activity Surveys (SAS): A survey required of all public media stations that varies based on whether the respondent is a television or radio station. Respondents are asked about station employment, salaries, and digital platforms used.
Station Activities Benchmarking Surveys (SABS): A survey required of public television stations only. SABS collects more in-depth revenue and expenses data based on spending categories than an AFR.
All four of these were required by CPB for grantees to complete in order to be awarded grant money. Additionally, this information was used by CPB to determine how much grant money to award to individual stations. Much of this information was required by statute to be posted in a public location.
How You Can Help
If you’re a reader of Semipublic: You are helping just by supporting this newsletter. Subscribe for free, if you haven’t already, or consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying us a coffee. Then, help spread the word about our records request by reposting on Substack or other social media sites.
If you’re a CPB employee: We are deeply committed to helping the public understand what’s happening right now in public media - whether it’s through Semipublic or any other organization that would benefit from the requested data - and believe strongly in the importance of our request. If you do too, help bring attention to our request within CPB.
If you’re a public media entity, news organization, or research group that shares Semipublic’s mission: Get in touch with us as soon as possible. We have already begun gathering allies to help support our records request, like the State of Local News Project at Northwestern, and need your help, too. You can email us directly at contact [at] semipublic.co.
I want to thank Louis, who has worked tirelessly with me on this request and other projects for this newsletter without any recompense. I also want to thank you for supporting Semipublic - we’ve been able to achieve great things in just five short months.
More updates to come if and when we hear back from CPB.