When the British Broadcasting Service  was founded, in 1926, its national ownership and royal charter gave it a highminded mission: not only to entertain, but to enlighten. “The Public Purposes” of the BBC included “sustaining citizenship and civil society;” “promoting education and learning;” “stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;” and “representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities.” Advocates on the American side of the pond long argued for a similar institution, which finally came about in 1970 in the form of National Public Radio and, for television, the Public Broadcasting Service.

On this day, October 5, in 1970, the Public Broadcasting Service was founded, partly to provide the same mission as the BBC, and partly as an alternative to the for-profit commercial media model that long held sway in the United States.

There was a lot of resistance to the idea of a taxpayer-funded, non-profit media station. Congress felt it unnecessary, even if the Act chartering the first commercial radio stations mandated them to be “in the public interest, convenience or necessity,” and the Federal Communications Commission followed suit, recommending as far back as the 1930s that “no fixed percentages of radio broadcast facilities be allocated … to particular types or kinds of non-profit radio programs”. Conservative critics questioned the networks’ impartiality, and liberal ones derided them as a bastion of upper-class white-male perspectives. Despite the criticism, both NPR and PBS have garnered praise and operate strong to this day.