What is PMI?
PMI is an independent nonprofit forging the next era of infrastructure and innovation for the American public media system. Local stations do vital work — producing local news, music, and cultural programming, convening and reflecting their communities — and the technology behind that work is costly and complex to build and maintain alone.
PMI was founded through a five-year, $47 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — one of the organization’s final investments before losing its federal funding — to give public radio and digital stations the tools and technology they need to thrive in the post-CPB era.
Founded by five leading public media organizations — American Public Media Group (APMG), the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), New York Public Radio (NYPR), PRX, and Station Resource Group (SRG) — PMI brings together the experience, expertise, and capabilities of its founding partners to build and sustain the shared technology infrastructure stations need, now and into the future.
By optimizing systems stations are already using today while innovating on solutions for tomorrow, PMI provides the shared infrastructure and strategic coordination needed to move public media forward together — making innovation more affordable, more efficient, and more achievable than any one organization could accomplish alone.
PMI exists to help stations innovate and adapt together, so that no station—regardless of size or geography—has to navigate the future of public media alone.
What services are currently available through PMI? What new services will PMI provide in the future?
Currently, PMI is underwriting the cost of PRX Dovetail, PRX Exchange, and PRX Networks, making them available to stations free of cost. Stations can continue to work directly with PRX to access these services.
Looking ahead, PMI will prioritize developing services that are most challenging for stations to create from scratch, and that are critical for remaining vital, relevant and accessible to future audiences: audience metrics, data analytics, content delivery, and revenue systems.
Will my station see any changes in cost or payment?
PMI’s goal is to provide as many services as possible at no cost or at reduced cost to stations. Stations will be given ample time to adopt new services without financial burden.
Carriage fees for programming are outside of the scope of PMI’s mandate.
Where do stations go for support?
While PMI is coordinating and subsidizing select services, stations should continue to go directly to the service provider for tactical support.
How can stations work collaboratively with PMI?
Founded by five station-centric partners, with station leaders serving on its Board of Directors and Advisory Council, stations are at the heart of PMI’s mission.
Through webinars and convenings with stations, PMI is connecting directly with stations to understand their needs, priorities and technology pain points in this new era for public media.
As PMI builds out its operations and strategic plan, we will create more formal ways for stations to inform and participate in our work.. These will include pilot cohorts, surveys, working groups, and gatherings designed to ensure station perspectives help shape PMI’s decisions and direction, along with regular communication and transparency about our plans and priorities.
We are committed to prioritizing smaller, rural, Tribal, and LPFM stations in this process to ensure that PMI serves the entire system equitably. Your input will not only be welcomed, but built into the way PMI makes decisions.
How is PMI governed?
Jeannie Ericson is PMI’s Chief Executive Officer. PMI’s Board of Directors consists of representatives of the founding organizations, along with other station leaders who represent the breadth of the public media system. PMI is fully independent and is not directly tied or subordinate to any single organization.
What is PMI’s relationship to its founding partners?
PMI benefits from the expertise of its founding partners, but it operates as an independent nonprofit with its own leadership and governance structure. Its mission is to serve the entire public media system—not any single organization.
How can my station reach PMI?
All inquiries can be submitted through this form, or sent via email to [email protected].
To stay informed about PMI’s work, sign up for our emails and follow us on LinkedIn.
In summary:
PMI’s role is to ensure that no matter the size, location, format or license type of your station, you will be able to rely on a shared, affordable, and adaptable infrastructure, and can devote most of your time and resources to directly serving your communities. To start, the costs of accessing these tools and technologies are covered by the CPB grant, and innovation will be built with your input every step of the way.