American Public Media and BBC World Service Announce Renewal of BBC Distribution Partnership in the U.S.
APM has distributed BBC World Service English radio programming since 2012.
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 8, 2022 – American Public Media (APM) and BBC World Service announced the renewal of their distribution partnership for BBC World Service’s English radio programming to U.S. public radio stations for the next five years.
As the only distributor of BBC World Service content in the U.S., APM will continue to focus on delivering the BBC’s award-winning global journalism, breaking news, and programming to more than 600 public radio station across the U.S. Public radio listenership for BBC World Service’s English broadcasts have seen significant growth of 67 percent since APM took over the partnership in 2012.
“We are proud to continue our work with BBC World Service,” said David Kansas, President of APM. “Our partner stations and public radio listeners rely on BBC’s trusted and timely programming to bring 24/7 global news coverage so they can stay up to date on world events. BBC’s programming is consistent with our organization’s values of putting listeners first and elevating diverse voices and stories.”
“We are delighted to continue to serve U.S. public radio stations and their listeners and meet their increasing demand for global news through our partnership with APM” said Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC News International Services and Director of BBC World Service. “The international perspective that the BBC brings to news and programming is a great complement to U.S.-based local and national news and APM is the right partner to bring our voice to an American public.”
BBC broadcasts include news and current affairs programming, including its flagship global daily program Newshour. In 2014, BBC and APM also introduced BBC Topline, a daily 90-second program recapping the world’s most important stories, curated for U.S. audiences. Topline was produced to complement public radio stations’ morning drive clock. In early 2020, Deeply Human podcast was launched, a BBC World Service and APM co-production with iHeartMedia, exploring the psychology, biology and anthropological explanations of human traits.
This is APM’s second distribution renewal with BBC World Service, and it will remain in place until June 2027.
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About American Public Media
American Public Media® (APM) is the national programming and distribution division of Minnesota Public Radio® and reaches over 17 million listeners with nearly 1,000 public radio stations and over 400 commercial stations nationwide each week. APM is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio that includes BBC World Service, Marketplace®, and the leading classical music programs in the nation. APM Studios, a division of APM, offers a diverse array of podcasts featuring the best in food, culture, entertainment, business and investigative journalism. For more information on APM, visit americanpublicmedia.org.
About BBC World Service
BBC World Service delivers news content around the world in English and 41 other language services, on radio, TV and digital. BBC World Service reaches a weekly audience of 364 million. As part of BBC World Service, BBC Learning English teaches English to global audiences. For more information, visit bbc.com/worldservice. The BBC attracts a weekly global audience of 489 million people to its services available internationally, including BBC World Service, BBC World News television channel, bbc.com/news, BBC Studios and the international charity, BBC Media Action.