The PBS Fort Wayne State of the Station 2026.

Please welcome PBS Fort Wayne President and CEO: Ed Leon.

Thank you.

Thank you guys.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to the first ever PBS Fort Wayne State of the Station event.

I want to thank the many distinguished community members who are here tonight.

Board members who are here, donors and sponsors.

All for our little experiment.

And you, our audience, for being here tonight.

This is a combination status report and television broadcast.

So something new for us.

So ask for a little patience along the way.

All of us, everybody here in the studio, all of you watching at home, have stuck with us through an unprecedented time in the 50 year history of this public television station, so this is for you.

Now, it's not going to be like a normal state of the Union address, where half of you stand up and cheer and the other half of you sit, sit on your hands and boo.

In fact, no standing ovations necessary unless you're so moved and and so keep that in mind for the next 20 minutes or so.

Why do a state of the state broadcast the station?

Excuse me.

Simply put, PBS Fort Wayne is a nonprofit, noncommercial public media company, and we always strive to maintain a high level of transparency and communication with you, our public.

This is just a new way for us to do that.

There also remains a high level of interest and confusion and dread and concern for the health of our organization.

Since we lost all that federal and Indiana state funding.

It's been a little over a year since that happened, and now seems like an appropriate time to look back on the journey that PBS Fort Wayne has been on in the last year, and to take stock of how it all has impacted the organization and the community resource you have supported for more than 50 years.

But before I do that, let me play a short video as a reminder of all that PBS Fort Wayne offers the community of Northeast Indiana.

Thank you, thank you.

So with that in mind, I want to take you back to the events of the summer of 2025.

And I want to quote the great pop music philosopher Kelly Clarkson, who sang the immortal words, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

In the spring of 2025, the state of Indiana pulled funding for all Indiana public radio and television stations from the biennial budget.

It happened at the 11th hour, and the reason given was that projections showed that budgetary shortfalls were there and multiple areas of the state budget had to be reduced or eliminated.

By the way, those dire projections have not manifested, and in fact, the state currently sits on historically high levels of reserves.

Nevertheless, it immediately impacted PBS Fort Wayne because 12% of our annual budget disappeared just like that.

The organization immediately began compensating.

Several administrative positions were frozen or cut.

Belt tightening began across all departments, all while recruiting a new leader willing to step into the uncertainty.

Shortly thereafter, on May 1st, the president signed an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was the mechanism for how we received federal funding to cease all direct and indirect federal funding for PBS and NPR over allegations of Partizan bias.

Of course, public media pushed back.

Not only did we see that as an unfair representation of the totality of our programing, but a year later, the US District Court ruled that the executive order was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment.

Unfortunately, by then, it didn't matter because the sentiment behind the order pushed Congress to take up a seldom used legislative process called rescission, to claw back previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Congress had already set aside the funding, but this new Congress wanted the money back.

Some of you may remember that summer there was a campaign to Save My Public Media.

Thousands of you wrote in and lobbied our congressional delegation.

We sweated together through close votes in the House and in the Senate Appropriations Committee and in the full Senate.

But all of them failed and failed along party lines.

When the dust had settled, CPB lost its funding and eventually dissolved completely, and as a result, PBS Fort Wayne lost another 31% of our annual funding.

All in.

When you factor in the state loss, that was that was all amounted to nearly $1.4 million, 43% of our annual revenue.

When you factor in the state loss.

So you do that math.

Any business that loses that much, it will shake it to the foundation.

By then, I had moved to Fort Wayne and had joined the team as the new CEO.

We had to right size the organization for our new financial realities.

Although we had strong reserves, we made some hard decisions.

We cut staff.

We now have just 14 full time employees running PBS Fort Wayne, along with a freelance studio crew, some of them here tonight.

We lost programing.

We discontinued our channel 39.4, the digital subchannel explorer, and replaced it with the World Channel.

And remarkably, very little else changed in the eyes of our audience.

The programing from PBS was as robust as ever.

This was the fall of Ken Burns epic documentary series American Revolution.

All of the PBS Fort Wayne locally produced programs stayed on the air, and our supporters and our donors stepped up to save us when we needed it most.

Donations surged.

Membership surged.

Major gifts shot up for the first time in the 60 year history of PBS and the 50 year history of PBS Fort Wayne, we became 100% community funded by local sponsors, foundation grants, and viewers like you, for real.

By the way, that's not how public media was designed.

It was always designed by law as a public private partnership, going back all the way to the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at the same time.

Now CPB is gone, and in a full circle moment, LBJ's granddaughter is the chair of the PBS board.

But that's a story for another time.

So we found ourselves in uncharted waters.

But looking back now with the clarity of hindsight, I can see that was the low point, and our resurgence was close at hand.

In those early days of uncertainly- Uncertainty.

I will always be grateful to the Knight Foundation, because they reached out to me very early on to assess how we had been impacted.

They take a special interest in supporting news and information media in the cities where they once held newspapers, so we were lucky enough to receive a grant from them through the Community Foundation, that immediately enabled us to restart our local news and information productions, our political show Prime Time, a new historical documentary and two brand new community affairs community affairs programs that we put into development that grant put the wind back in our sails.

We went from suffering a season of loss to a renewed sense of purpose and aspiration.

What came next for us was the true game changer, though, with many small and rural and mid-sized public media stations in danger of shutting down after the federal rescission and the loss of CPB.

Paula Kerger who is the CEO of PBS, worked with a group of major philanthropies to create a significant pool of emergency funding to help the most impacted stations weather the loss.

They created the Special Public Media Bridge Fund at the at the nonprofit public media company.

As a station that met the threshold for having lost a significant level of funding, PBS Fort Wayne was allowed to apply for a one time grant, and in December of 2025, we received a one time Public Media Bridge Fund grant that solidified our budget for the entire fiscal year.

What had started as a budget deficit in October of 2025 would now see us finish in the Black in September of 2026, thanks to the Bridge Fund and to our new, leaner spending footprint.

But we are not done.

Our mission is to enrich the community with engaging content.

One way we do that is by providing you with the spectacular variety of content that comes from PBS, the Create Channel, the World Channel, and for children from PBS kids.

For the 23rd year in a row, PBS shows up in polling by YouGov as the most trusted institution in America, more trusted folks than all of media, more trusted than institutions like Congress, and more trusted than the courts of law.

The PBS programing that your donations help fund represents the very best of America and the world.

Let's take a look.

We are connected through stories.

Stories about love.

Family.

And discovery.

And its magic.

It begins in your mind.

It begins with your thoughts.

It's about creating again and again.

This is absolutely amazing.

Are we ready to be dazzled?

We've got work to do.

The day unfolds in the quiet solitude of sunrise.

We are off on an aquatic adventure.

I've been dreaming up some designs.

I've got this wild idea to turn running shoes into containers.

Welcome, everyone.

To food curated.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Got to beat the devil out of it.

When we break through stereotypes.

There was some pride knowing we were different.

When passion is contagious.

I am not giving up hope.

I'm not giving up hope.

Change is possible.

I think you have to be able to share your story.

And the world seems closer.

Get together with community.

Create fellowship.

When we break through the things that keep us apart.

We can break the mold.

My generation, we're next up.

Next is going to be our world.

And we got to make sure that it's right for the generations to come.

Hi neighbor!

I'm so glad you're here.

I did it.

To the creature rescue.

I'm your best friend.

This is a real magicy place Stu.

Amazing stuff, right?

Amazing stuff.

I know many of you are interested in how your donor dollars are used to provide this amazing programing, so let me explain it a little bit.

All stations, including PBS Fort Wayne, we pay a yearly programing fee to PBS for the main channel, PBS channel and PBS kids.

By the way, speaking of PBS kids, every month, children across Northeast Indiana watch or stream an average of half a million streams of animated PBS kids programs or educational games from PBS Fort Wayne, all of it with an educational foundation.

For many Hoosier families, PBS kids is the only preschool education they can afford because it's free and it prepares.

Yeah, yeah.

That's right.

And it prepares their young ones for success in school and for K-12 students, homeschool parents, and educators.

In our school systems, they use PBS learning media for curriculum, assigned videos, interactive lesson plans, and teaching resources to expand their students horizons, also for free.

All right, but back to the costs.

The fee for PBS and PBS kids used to be based on a formula devised by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which factored in a station's local fundraising.

Along with federal funds, we received in the form of a community service grant.

Our federal funding has always been tied to community service.

They even called it that.

That funding and the CPB are both gone.

As a result.

In the year after the funding loss, PBS lowered its fees for all stations.

And while the fees for this year coming up have gone up 15%, they're still lower than before the funding loss.

The PBS board is actively assessing how to set programing fees in the future to maintain program quality, while recognizing the financial realities faced by stations like PBS Fort Wayne.

For the rest of our national programing, we pay a separate, smaller fee for the create channel on 39.3, a smaller fee for World Channel on 39.4, and separate fees for acquired programs like the new comedies we just started airing on Saturday nights the Red Green Show and Corner Gas.

Please check those out for, For for some good laughs.

The other way we fulfill our mission is to enrich the community by producing local content that is meaningful to Fort Wayne and to our viewers throughout Northeast Indiana.

PBS Fort Wayne content is produced right here at this station, much of it in this studio, and done so by an award winning, dedicated production team with help from a pool of talented freelancers who crew our local studio shows.

Together, we provide Northeast Indiana content that hits home to Hoosiers mental health advice on Matters Of The Mind, helping adults navigate important life decisions on Life Ahead.

The latest medical and health information on Healthline, a window into the people and issues that animate communities across northeast Indiana on the new series the 260.

Digging into legislative affairs on Primetime.

Loving and caring for our furry family members on our brand new show for pet lovers, Pet Life, and documenting the unique history of Fort Wayne with in-depth documentaries that bring context and perspective to the important eras, events and people from our collective past.

This includes our current documentary in production, Father of Television, the story of technology pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, who was an early inventor of television and who spent many years in Fort Wayne, where he based his company and pushed the boundaries of innovation.

Let's take a moment to look at the local productions that put the Fort Wayne into PBS Fort Wayne.

Welcome to the 260, where we cover life and community in Northeast Indiana.

You got one shot to get someone connected to the right resource before they give up.

It's just an energy that you just can't really explain until you're in there.

Take it out.

Look away.

Do not look at that card.

Did you show the camera?

Welcome to Matters of the Mind.

Let's go to our next caller.

Hello, Jean.

Welcome to Matters of the Mind.

I had a question about different medications.

And the brain, as I mentioned, there's 80 billion neurons.

Thank you so much for watching Life Ahead here on PBS Fort Wayne.

I'm Mark Evans, your host.

If you have loved ones close by, that can kind of help guide you.

No more cookie cutter funerals.

Well, hello and welcome to Healthline.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Jennifer Blomquist.

The answer is absolutely yes.

You can get back to sports after knee replacement I encourage it actually.

I think it's time that we at least examine that.

Take a look at it, how much it's going to cost.

We have a map of, you know, so so people can see.

Just kind.

Of in general.

Those are the voting.

Centers.

In Allen County.

You know, I'm.

Not I'm not elected to represent an entity.

I'm representing like 68,000 people in district 79.

Hi, and.

Welcome to Pet Life.

Hi.

Joey Arthur Oh my gosh.

Animals are 100% reliant on you.

For everything.

Crude protein.

Is the maximum amount of protein in that food.

That's not something that ends.

This is a Zoey.

Oh, I'm in trouble.

I know she is.

No, it's not a good time.

With an image dissector.

Camera tube in one room and the cathode ray tube display in the other room.

And the first few attempts don't work.

But then on the night of September 7th, 1927.

And that is essentially the moment television is born.

And he records that note in his journal.

And Leslie Gorrell was still in Los Angeles, and George sent him a telegram.

And the Telegraph simply says, the damn thing works.

The 260, Pet Life and the documentary Father of Television were all developed and produced after we suffered the loss of funding.

Even at the height of our uncertainty, we never lost sight of how best we serve, our mission and our community.

As soon as we could move forward on new content, we did, and there is much more to come.

I also want to thank the Foellinger Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, the Doug and Joni Lehman Family Charitable Fund, and the Patricia Mae Adsit Foundation for increasing their grants to PBS Fort Wayne in support of our local content mission.

Which brings me to some recent news about a grant that will become a major station initiative for the next two years.

In July, PBS Fort Wayne received a READI 2.0 Arts and Culture grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the Indiana Arts Commission for our grant project, titled Arts 260.

Arts 260 is a portfolio of content productions, workforce development initiatives, and business training to support the arts and media innovation across Northeast Indiana and beyond.

It draws on PBS Fort Wayne's notable legacy and production, and in arts and culture.

So let me tell you about Arts 260.

Over the next two years, PBS will produce and broadcast a dozen plays, concerts, and artistic performances from venues across Northeast Indiana.

This initiative, which we're calling IN Performance - I N like Indiana, will utilize our broadcast ready mobile production unit to capture original theatrical productions, marquee musical events, and unique cultural performances to showcase the thriving culture of performance in the region.

We will launch IN Performance with a new holiday music concert in December here at PFW Arts 260 will also feature prominently on our new weekly life and culture program, The 260, where we will feature profiles, conversations with local artists, entrepreneurs, policymakers and cultural leaders who are advancing arts and culture as a driver of economic development in the region.

We will we will also produce short form documentaries and field pieces on regional art institutions and take our audience behind the scenes of art installations, festivals and projects.

These two will be featured on the 260 in Workforce development, the grant also enables us to invest in the next generation of regional media storytellers.

We'll be hiring two new associate producers who will work on our team and work on all the productions that flow from Arts 260.

We'll also be identifying a documentarian in residence.

This is very exciting.

It's a filmmaker who will embed with our production team here at PBS Fort Wayne.

Over the course of the grant, this filmmaker will draw support from our team as long as they as long as they complete a long form documentary with regional relevance.

The completed film will premiere on PBS Fort Wayne and be distributed through our multiple distribution channels.

And finally, something new and unique for us.

PBS Fort Wayne will become the hub of a brand new business development initiative.

We're calling it the Northeast Indiana Creative Innovation Business Incubator at PBS Fort Wayne, because we love impossibly long titles.

This incubator will equip cohorts of filmmakers, content creators, and media entrepreneurs with the tools and connections to build sustainable, creative businesses here in Northeast Indiana and continue to work and thrive here to build up the creative economy here.

This business incubator will be conducted in partnership with the NIIC, N I I C the Northeast Indiana innovation community, and we're looking forward to making this a centerpiece of our continuing service to the regional creative media economy.

In its totality, Arts 260 enables PBS Fort Wayne to take a leadership position in the arts and culture.

Economy.

Arts 260 expands access to music and cultural programing, promotes the region's cultural assets and economic value, and will support workforce development, creative entrepreneurship, and cultural tourism across Northeast Indiana and beyond.

We're humbled and thrilled to be awarded this expansive grant that will form a major part of our roadmap in the year ahead.

So, as they say in these types of things, ladies and gentlemen, the state of the station.

Is strong.

Yeah.

And we could not have done it without you, our donors and supporters.

In the last year, our membership revenue has increased by 15%.

And our major gifts, which are $1,000 and above, increased by 69%.

This is what it means to be a 100% community funded.

And we're counting on you to help us continue this momentum so that we can keep serving PBS Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana with premium quality programing of PBS, and with the Hoosier spirit and pride of PBS Fort Wayne.

Thank you.

I think we have time for one question.

All right.

We have we're getting nods.

So one question.

With all of the changes at PBS Fort Wayne recently, what do you see as the station's biggest opportunity over the next 5 to 10 years?

Well, that's a great question.

You know, no one would have predicted in five years ago that we were we would have had these challenges that happened today.

But I think what it has done for us, it has given us a new, a new impetus to be.

And I'll speak to the to the audience as well.

It's given us a new impetus to make make ourselves newly relevant to the local community.

We have the opportunity now with this this ready 2.0 grant to seek out arts and culture organizations from throughout Northeast Indiana and to really collaborate with them in a brand new way, because we're going to be showcasing what they do before in a way that we haven't been able to do.

We're going to we have new partnerships that we that we are involved in with the Journal Gazette, with the the Nick community, in the innovation community.

That has been the one that's going to, you know, do the programing for our media incubator.

So these are new, new touchpoints for us.

We will continue to double down on local programing, local productions that put the I said that on purpose.

It puts the Fort Wayne into PBS Fort Wayne.

We will never shy away from the fabulous programing that we get from PBS, but the local programing is, was is what makes us unique to this community.

Is there time for one more?

No, there's not time for one more.

Okay, so that's all the time we have for this state of the station address.

I want to thank you for being here and thank you at home for watching.

And thank all of you for supporting PBS.

Fort Wayne.