Innovate with Current: The Future of Public Media (2026)

January 15, 2026

Join Public Media Innovators and Current for our second annual conversation about what the year ahead holds for public media. Suffice to say, 2025 didn’t go the way many of us hoped. So, now what? How can public media position itself for a successful 2026 amid ongoing uncertainty and change?

This session will feature a panel of leaders from across public media sharing their perspectives on where the industry finds itself today and what may be coming next. This conversation is designed for anyone thinking about the future of public media strategy, audience, and sustainability and looking for candid perspectives on the year ahead.

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Panelists

Steve Bass

Steve Bass served as president and chief executive officer of Oregon Public Broadcasting from 2006 to 2024, leading OPB’s transformation into a journalism-focused organization while significantly growing OPB’s news staffing, support from members, and endowment. Over a 45-year career in public media, he has held leadership roles at PBS, WGBH, WGBY, and Nashville Public Television, and served on the boards of NPR, APTS, and Greater Public. He currently serves as vice chair of the board of PRX, a public media podcasting and technology organization. In 2025, he founded Lakeland Consulting, where he advises public media organizations and philanthropies on strategy and collaboration and is widely regarded as a thought leader on the future of public media.

Nathalie Hill

Nathalie Hill is the Chief Audience Officer at KCRW in Los Angeles, where she leads audience growth and engagement across marketing and art, membership, social, events, and digital products. She previously served as VP of Strategy and Content Marketing at Giant Spoon and has a track record of building community-centric programs that deepen connection and drive participation. Her work blends creative strategy with data-informed decision-making to expand how audiences discover and engage with media. She reluctantly brags about being on Forbes 30 Under 30.

Erik Langner

Erik Langner has spent 20 years in national leadership roles in public broadcasting, and serves as the Executive Director of the Public Media Bridge Fund. Most recently, he co-founded Information Equity Initiative, a nonprofit organization that partners with PBS member stations to repurpose spectrum to provide educational content to people who lack access to broadband. Previously, Erikspent fifteen years at Public Media Company, where he structured dozens of mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships that raised several hundred million dollars to secure and expand public media services for millions of Americans.

Prior to dedicating himself to public media, Erik was a corporate attorney at Kirkland and Ellis in New York City and Latham and Watkins in San Francisco, and worked at the United National Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. He holds a JD from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Loira Limbal

Loira Limbal is President & CEO of Firelight Media, a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color. She is a multidisciplinary artist who works in documentary film and video installation and as a DJ. She is the director of Through the Night (2020) (Tribeca Film Festival, du-Pont Columbia Award, and NYT Critic’s Pick), which aired on PBS’ POV Series, and Estilo Hip Hop (2009), which aired on PBS. Her recent accolades include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, a USA Fellowship, a NAACP Image Award nomination, and a Sundance Institute Fellowship.