On this day in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act. In his remarks upon signing the act, Johnson declared:
“I believe the time has come to stake another claim in the name of all the people, stake a claim based upon the combined resources of communications. I believe the time has come to enlist the computer and the satellite, as well as television and radio, and to enlist them in the cause of education...I think we must consider new ways to build a great network for knowledge-not just a broadcast system, but one that employs every means of sending and of storing information that the individual can rise.”
At the time, “every means of sending and of storing information,” was envisioned primarily as public television, with radio advocates fighting to be included under the bill’s provisions. Fifty years later, consistent with President Johnson’s vision of a “great network for knowledge,” public media reaches the world through radio, television, podcasts, blogs, videos, social media posts and other multimedia productions.
Yoichi Okamoto/LBJ Library














