TAB Renews Annual Survey on Texas Radio, TV Stations Working in the Public Interest

posted on 12.01.2025

- Window to Complete:  Dec. 9-Jan 16

With local Radio and TV stations being the only media subject to any regulatory accountability, TAB has been surveying how Texas broadcasters work in the public interest for nearly 30 years, and it’s time for stations to prepare to report on their 2025 efforts.

Putting numbers to stations’ good work has long been an effective component of TAB’s legislative advocacy before state and federal policymakers. Doing so has never been more important as the FCC intensifies its scrutiny of broadcasters’ responsibilities to their communities of license.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, TAB is distributing its 28th annual public service research survey which asks stations to place a dollar value on some of their efforts and showcase the greatest impact they’ve made in 2025.  

Each station GM will receive an email with a link to an online survey on TAB.org that allows stations to enter data for multiple stations without having to reenter the survey for each update.

The results will be shared with policymakers in Congress, the FCC and the Texas Legislature as TAB advocates on various measures in the coming months. 

Results for the electronic survey are due Jan. 16..  The streamlined survey is easy to complete, especially for those with multiple licenses.  Respondents can pause during the process without losing data already entered.

The final report does not extrapolate for stations that do not respond, underscoring the importance for all stations to participate.  Only 12 percent of stations responded to last year’s survey, reporting a total of $125.2 million in public service, including $29 million raised for charities.

In addition, the 220 stations that responded reported $82.2 million in airtime for general public service messaging.

Cumulatively, TAB has documented more than $6 BILLION in public service just by participating stations since the survey was first introduced in 1998.

While the survey requests specific data, it also provides stations an opportunity to go beyond the numbers and share stories of their 2025 public service efforts that proved most meaningful to their communities.

Stations are invited to submit photos, as well as audio or video content, no longer than 90 seconds, highlighting what stations consider to be their best community service project of the year.

The survey is completely electronic and has been designed to allow responding staff to easily pause and reenter the survey without losing data already entered.

Stations will begin receiving weekly reminders until the Jan.16 deadline.

The survey will be sent to station GMs or an alternate staff member if they’ve designated one.

Questions? Contact Oscar Rodriguez or Barbara Rodgers, or call (512) 322-9944.

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