Public media stations are the keepers of powerful stories—local voices, community histories, and cultural moments that deserve to be preserved and shared. But with aging video and audio formats, staff turnover, and evolving technology, many of these stories are at risk of being lost.
The good news? You don’t have to do it alone.
Start with What You Can Do
Preservation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are practical steps every station can take right now to protect its digital legacy:
- Know what you have: Create an inventory of your digital content and where it lives – especially anything unique your station creates that may not exist anywhere else.
- Organize your files and folders: Use clear, consistent naming conventions to make it easy to identify important content, and avoid special characters (such as $, #, and &) that machines can’t process.
- Document access: Make sure someone can access all digital spaces, even if staff leave, and talk to departing staff about their content before they’re gone
- Identify what’s most important: Prioritize materials that are unique, at risk, or historically significant.
- Back up your files: Try to have at least two copies of any significant material, stored using different services or in different physical locations. Consider sending copies to a trusted partner or archive.
These steps help ensure your content is safe, usable, and ready for future preservation efforts.
You Have Partners
In addition to what you can do internally, there’s a growing network of organizations ready to help:
American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB)
A collaboration between the Library of Congress and GBH, the AAPB offers:
- Free participation (no grant writing required)
- Offering long-term preservation of digital files at the Library of Congress
- Increased discoverability of your programming through metadata, transcripts, and limited or public access.
- Asset management guidance
Importantly, you retain full ownership of your materials, and all licensing requests are directed back to your station.
Other Preservation Partners
- Internet Archive: Host digital collections, archive websites, or donate physical materials for digitization.
- American Radio Archives (Santa Barbara, CA): One of the largest collections documenting U.S. radio history.
- University of Maryland Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture: Extensive holdings in radio and television history.
- Digital Public Library of America: Aggregates millions of items from libraries, archives, and museums nationwide.
- Local and regional archives, colleges, and universities: Often have capacity and interest in preserving community media.
- AMIA Grid for Best Archival Practices: A practical guide for managing television archives, developed by the Association of Moving Image Archivists. View the guide.
What We Preserve Together
The AAPB and its partners prioritize:
- Local and national public media content
- Materials at risk of loss
- Unheard voices and underrepresented communities
- All genres, including news, documentaries, children’s programming, and full interviews
Ready to Get Started?
The AAPB makes it easy:
- Send a brief description of your content, including format and size for AAPB approval.
- Complete a Deed of Gift to grant AAPB permission to preserve and provide access.
- Ship a hard drive with your digital files.
Let’s Talk
Whether you’re just starting or ready to submit materials, we’re here to help.
📧 Contact us: aapb_submissions@wgbh.org
Want to Hear More?
Listen to the full presentation for real-world examples and guidance from AAPB archivists.
blog.americanarchive.org 