From a refreshed name to stronger service and signal, Nashville PBS continues to connect Middle Tennessee with trusted stories, education, and community.
As Nashville PBS celebrates its 63rd birthday, I am grateful for a community committed to public media. For the first time in our station’s history, we will begin operations with the loss of two years of federal funding, our very foundation for infrastructure and local service. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is winding down operations as of December 2025, and they will steward the last federal dollars allocated for public broadcasting specific to our local service.
It is difficult to pivot an immediate 20 percent reduction in funding, but our Board of Directors, our Nashville PBS team, and our amazing community use this as an opportunity to strengthen community support and service. In this fiscal year report, we completed our second year on target for our current strategic plan. I would encourage you to visit the full document at wnpt.org/strategicplan.
I was honored this year to receive the American Public Television Stations (APTS) 2025 Inaugural Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award. Public television has always been my passion. I know firsthand the impact of public media and the importance our service has with content that educates, inspires, and entertains.
Our system of public media, created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, is more relevant today than ever before. We are the last locally owned and governed media with the sole purpose of serving our community, state, and nation, and this spirit is also present in the latest Ken Burns documentary series, The American Revolution.
What has not changed at Nashville PBS is our commitment to serving Nashville and our entire Middle Tennessee region as a premier award-winning PBS station. We continue to thrive, thanks to the amazing support of Viewers Like You. Please look at the many corporate, foundation, and individual donors in this report and know what a difference they make to Nashville PBS.
From the launch of our new brand and name, honoring our past while celebrating our future, we achieved so many milestones. We completed a beautiful documentary on Brenda Lee that became a feature of American Masters. We saw an increase in viewership for our locally produced series, including launching a new era of Tennessee Crossroads with a new host, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, alongside our correspondents Vicki Yates, Miranda Cohen, and Laura Faber.
We also have a goal to reach new audiences through a multiplatform approach, including our first Tennessee Crossroads digital series, Jaunts, and our first Slice of the Community digital series, The Good in Us.
Locally produced programming continues to highlight and serve our children, our older adults, our veterans, our neighbors urban and rural, and our small businesses. We increased our commitment to Nashville’s creative community by presenting locally created content and investing in a 24/7 All Arts digital channel in partnership with WNET.
We are committed to working closely with each of you and with our elected leaders at the city, state, and national level to honor our past and celebrate our future together. We are Nashville PBS, and we are here to stay.
With a heart of gratitude, thank you,
Becky Magura
Nashville PBS President & CEO
Nashville Public Television became Nashville PBS across every touchpoint while engineering upgrades, original storytelling, and community partnership stayed at the heart of the work.
This year Nashville Public Television became Nashville PBS across all on air, digital, and in person touchpoints. Viewers now see the Nashville PBS name and PBS mark wherever they encounter their local public media service, from channel guides and station IDs to social media and community events.
The Nashville PBS magazine launched as a membership and marketing tool printed locally and funded through sponsorships and media trades. It highlights programming, local stories, and new ways for neighbors to engage with public media.
Engineering teams strengthened service and signal with a digital ATSC 3.0 channel, enhancing reliability and reception for viewers across Middle Tennessee and preparing the station for the next generation of broadcast technology.
From Tennessee road trips and gardening tips to conversations about purpose and belonging, Nashville PBS originals celebrate the people and stories that define our region.
For 37 seasons, founding host Joe Elmore guided viewers across the state with warmth and curiosity. Today the series continues with a new generation of storytellers and a renewed focus on the towns, tastes, and traditions that make Tennessee home.
Becky Magura invites guests to explore what they would do differently or bravely try if they had a clean slate. The series offers heartfelt conversations about change, courage, and community and encourages viewers to reflect on their own journeys.
In its thirty third season, Volunteer Gardener continues to share practical advice and inspiration from Tennessee gardeners. The series reaches statewide audiences and remains one of Nashville PBS’s most enduring and beloved programs.
The Aging Matters series explores the many dimensions of growing older. Recent films have focused on veterans, grandparents raising grandchildren, and the ways families and communities support one another across generations.
Through digital first series like The Little Things and Flavors Without Borders, Next Door Neighbors shares stories of immigrants and refugees who now call Middle Tennessee home. Their experiences highlight resilience, creativity, and the rich diversity of our region.
The long running literary series celebrates its tenth anniversary with short form broadcasts and full length podcast episodes. Hosts J. T. Ellison and Jeremy Finley sit down with authors from across genres and encourage viewers and listeners to discover new voices and keep reading.
Nashville PBS partners with schools, families, and community organizations to bring learning to life in classrooms, clinics, and neighborhood spaces.
Guided by a mission to serve those who need public media most, Nashville PBS worked with regional partners on events, workshops, and resource distributions that supported children and caregivers. Resources ranged from early literacy tools to bilingual materials and media literacy guides for older youth.
A new series of short videos and classroom ready resources helps families and educators analyze, evaluate, and create media with care.
Media literacy, the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication, is more important than ever. In an era crowded with information, understanding how messages are made and shared is essential for young people and adults.
Nashville PBS worked with national and international partners to create short, engaging videos that align with standards from the International Society for Technology in Education, the Erikson Institute, and the Tennessee Department of Education. These resources give parents, caregivers, and teachers conversation starters they can use right away.
Screenings, mixers, and pop up events brought thousands of neighbors together around shared stories and music.
Highlights from the year included a Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around premiere and conversation with Brenda Lee, YoPro networking events that connected young professionals with public media, a Community Advisory Board open meeting, the Cook’s Country live event, and a Jack and Jill of America youth visit that spotlighted media literacy and storytelling for future creators.
Viewers, donors, and partners continue to power Nashville PBS so that trusted content stays free and accessible to everyone.
Membership remained steady at roughly twenty one thousand six hundred households. Sustaining members, the most reliable supporters, increased by more than one thousand and now represent more than half of all members.
Acquisition revenue in key months grew significantly, and matching gift campaigns outperformed previous years. December remained the strongest month for giving, and the September Day of Giving continued to be an important milestone in the fundraising calendar.
Corporate underwriting finished just under goal and exceeded the prior year, with commitments already in place for fiscal year 2026. More than sixty percent of annual funding continues to come from viewers, while federal support through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting undergirds education, public safety, and the 24/7 PBS KIDS channel.
Nashville PBS is deeply grateful for the individuals, families, foundations, and businesses whose generosity makes this work possible in FY24–25.
Leadership support includes gifts from key foundations and families, with additional support from regional health systems, universities, arts organizations, and local businesses. Together, they help Nashville PBS offer trusted news, inspiring stories, and educational content that is free to everyone in Middle Tennessee.
The full alphabetical list of supporters from the print report can be presented as a separate downloadable PDF or as a set of columns on this page, depending on how you choose to build the final Bento layout.