PRX says it is entering one of the most turbulent periods in public media history from a position of financial and technological strength, as the nonprofit audio company leans into podcasting, creator tools and digital infrastructure to help stations survive mounting economic pressure.
In its 2025 annual report, PRX says it expanded support for stations and creators even as federal funding cuts and commercial headwinds intensified across public media. The organization highlighted its growing podcast platform, investments in new programming and an expanding push into video and live events as part of a broader effort to modernize public media’s business model.
“PRX is not just weathering this storm — we’re charting the course forward,” CEO Kerri Hoffman writes in her annual letter. “We’re accelerating the transition towards a digital-first infrastructure for a vibrant public media.”
The annual report shows the scale of that effort, although PRX ended the year with a deficit of around $1.01 million. PRX reported $27.04 million in total revenue, including $8.39 million from underwriting, $3.35 million from grants, and $2.42 million from donations.
Hoffman frames the current moment as an existential challenge for public media, writing that PRX faced “the most significant challenge to the U.S. public media system in decades.” But rather than pull back, she said the organization “invested in new shows when others hesitated” and continued providing free services to under-resourced stations.
PRX works with 900 stations across the U.S., distributing more than 20 public radio shows like “The Moth” and “Latino USA.” They reach 5.3 million U.S. listeners each week — growth that PRX acknowledges bucks the trend of declining public radio audiences.
“We are starting to define the next generation of audio on public radio,” says Sean Nesbitt, Senior Director of Industry Partnerships at PRX. “We are shaping the sound and the style and the talent that will become the future pillars of public radio. We have this new crop of talent that we’re growing, and that has been one of our big achievements this year.”
PRX says that effort means embracing content that will appeal to younger Millennial and Gen Z audiences, or different cultural groups that haven’t listened to public radio.
VP of Content Stephanie Kuo says the question they are asking is whether they can make the public media sensibility a “little edgier” and a “little bit more contemporary” to be in tune with the cultural zeitgeist.
“The future of public media doesn’t have to sound exactly the same,” Kuo says. “It needs to uphold the same values, but it doesn’t have to sound the same.”
Podcasting is also playing a bigger role. PRX’s network Radiotopia had 33 indie shows on its roster last year. Combined, there were 47.3 million downloads to podcasts including “Ear Hustle” and “Song Exploder.”
PRX also brought 30 public media stations onto the Dovetail podcast publishing platform “at no cost” during 2025 with the support of the now-closed Corporation for Public Broadcasting. By being a nonprofit, CTO Andrew Kuklewicz says they’re able to “draw a different line” based on PRX’s values to maintain a more mission-driven and privacy-focused alternative to commercial tech platforms.
Looking Ahead
The impact of a loss of federal dollars continues to ripple through public media. But COO Jason Saldanha says he remains optimistic PRX will be able to adopt based on its focus on innovation.
“I don’t think any other organization is going to take the chances, nor have the credibility in the market, to innovate on the scale that we do,” Saldanha says. “We have to be strong and continue to be agile in trying to bring new stuff to the fore and try to be the best partners in doing so.”
