WASHINGTON – February 26, 2025 – America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) today presented the inaugural 2025 Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award to Becky Magura, President and CEO of Nashville PBS, for her work raising the profile of the impact of local stations in communities large and small throughout the nation and in cultivating relationships and support for public broadcasting within the Tennessee congressional delegation and state legislature.
The APTS Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award, named for APTS’s longest-serving former President and CEO, is presented to station leaders who excel in telling the story of their local station’s work in education, public safety and community connections, and how federal and state funding make that work possible.
“Becky Magura is a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, helping to strengthen our ever-growing bipartisan support both in Congress and throughout the state of Tennessee,” said Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “Becky has been an extraordinarily effective champion of our cause, working tirelessly to shine a light on the vital role local public television stations play in the fabric of their communities in rural areas, in urban areas and everything in between. Becky effectively showcases our public service missions of education, public safety and community connections, and how the federal investment in this work is essential.
“At every turn, Becky steps up to skillfully communicate with lawmakers, inspires her peers at other local public media stations to become more involved in advocacy, and engages with Protect My Public Media, public media’s grassroots advocacy campaign. We are extremely grateful for Becky’s passion and dedication, and we are honored to present her with this most well-deserved 2025 Patrick Butler National Advocacy Award.”
“I’m honored and humbled by this recognition and also have a special place in my heart that it bears the name of Patrick Butler, a true champion of public television,” said Becky Magura. “I consider it a privilege to serve our citizens each day with our collective work and to be part of such a dedicated team at Nashville PBS and in partnership with all of our stations across the country. As a native Tennessean, I have experienced firsthand the impact of public television within our rural and urban communities and cherish the opportunity to share those inspiring stories with our elected officials. I’m so very grateful to APTS for this prestigious award.”
Becky Magura has been serving as president and CEO of Nashville PBS since September 2021. An established leader in public media, Magura has more than 40 years of experience in management, strategic leadership, production and educational engagement in public media.
Early in her tenure at Nashville PBS, Magura led the team to stand up two new 24/7 broadcast channels: WORLD and Create; two new regional series: A Slice of the Community and Clean Slate as well as the creation and implementation of a comprehensive three-year strategic plan.
In 2024, Magura and the Nashville PBS team successfully launched a full brand transition from Nashville Public Television to Nashville PBS including a campus refresh, a signature magazine highlighting stories of local impact and a new OTT ATSC 3.0 channel in partnership with Sinclair and in early 2025, a 24/7 ALL ARTS digital channel with WNET, NY.
Magura believes strongly in supporting independent producers and collaborative station productions to develop a broader audience connection through public media. She and the Nashville PBS team have been actively producing and curating new content such as Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around; Facing the Laughter: Minnie Pearl; Ear to the Common Ground; Have Guitar Will Travel; Volunteer Woodworker; By Western Hands and Down the Duck with John Guider. Previous national productions Magura stewarded for national distribution include Bluegrass Underground; Barnegie Hall; Songwriting with Soldiers and Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s.
Committed to lifelong learning and the use of public media for K-12 education, Magura has successfully served as the liaison for the Tennessee PBS at Home Learning Collaborative in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education and all six Tennessee public television stations.
Magura holds B.S. and M.A. degrees in Education, with an emphasis in Communications, from Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN.
The 2025 Patrick Butler National Advocacy was presented to Becky Magura during the APTS Public Media Summit on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and community connections to their local areas and the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org