The boards of two public media organizations serving Ohio and Western Pennsylvania Sept. 17 said they had voted to merge their operations after completing a comprehensive due diligence process in response to Congress’s vote to rescind federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Ideastream Public Media and PBS Western Reserve are filing with the Federal Communications Commission for a license transfer and working on a filing with the state of Ohio to merge. Together, the combined entity will serve more than 4 million people in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania under the name Ideastream Public Media. No layoffs are planned.
An article on the Ideastream website by Christian Petrilla quotes Kevin Martin, president and CEO of Ideastream as saying the move is “about taking action now to protect something that matters deeply to the communities we serve.”
In 2021, Ideastream entered into a public service operating agreement with Kent State University covering 89.7 WKSU and several transmitters and translators in Ohio. The deal also combined content teams. Last year, Ideastream and Cleveland State University entered into a joint operating agreement for the university’s WCSB.
Martin will remain president and CEO of Ideastream.
The Ideastream article about the merger is available online.
