Detroit breaks ground on a $40 million bet on the future of local media

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When much of the news media industry is talking about contraction, Detroit PBS is doing something decidedly different: building. The public media organization has broken ground on a new 50,000-square-foot campus designed not simply as a television facility, but as a home for journalism, radio, education, culture, community engagement and multiplatform storytelling. During a recent episode of E&P Reports, Detroit PBS President and CEO Rich Homberg explained why the project represents the culmination of a 15-year effort to rethink what a local media organization can become.

A building that represents something bigger

For Homberg, the Fred and Barbara Erb Public Media Campus isn't the beginning of Detroit PBS's transformation.  It's the physical manifestat on of work already underway.

"Our new building is more of an outcome than an aspiration," Homberg said. "We have spent the last 15 years rebuilding our organization."

The turning point came early in his tenure when he saw a Columbia Journalism Review cover questioning whether public television stations could step up as journalism's traditional infrastructure weakened. "I shivered," Homberg recalled. "It was like this moment, you know, oh my God."

That challenge pushed Detroit PBS to reconsider its place in a media ecosystem increasingly defined by disruption. Homberg saw an opportunity in the station's distinctive position as a locally owned, locally governed nonprofit institution. "We're supposed to do the things the other guys don't do," he said. "What if we truly embrace the potential that we have as a nonprofit public media organization?"

His philosophy is surprisingly entrepreneurial for someone running a nonprofit: "When you own the category, drive the category."

A nonprofit with a commercial mindset

Homberg spent years in commercial broadcasting, including at all-news stations WINS, KDKA and WWJ, before moving into public media. That experience continues to influence how he operates Detroit PBS. "When you say nonprofit, you don't say be clumsy," he said. "We are a very, very well-run organization."

Detroit PBS outsources functions where Homberg believes outside expertise provides greater value while investing heavily in areas where the organization can differentiate itself, including production and operations. "We're not the awkward public television station," he said. "We're a fighting, strong, tough, streetwise nonprofit organization."

For Homberg, mission and disciplined management aren't opposing ideas. "You can have mission and values and vision, and you can build trust and engagement, and you can run your business really well."

Putting $40 million behind the vision

Detroit PBS has raised roughly $30 million toward its $40 million campaign. Homberg said the organization entered the project from a position of financial strength, including proceeds from selling its previous facility and a $7.5 million challenge grant from the Erb Family Foundation.

"You've got to impress [the board] with hard work and great results," Homberg said. "You can't apologize for being a nonprofit and say, 'Well, we're clumsy people.' No, we're not. We're hardworking, determined."

The new campus will allow Detroit PBS to take existing work to a different scale. Homberg envisions artists, community leaders and newsmakers walking through the doors and immediately becoming part of content distributed across numerous platforms. "We needed the next generation of our building to match the next generation of our staff," he said.

From viewers to relationships

Perhaps the larger lesson from Detroit isn't about real estate at all.

Homberg argues that media organizations need to stop defining themselves by individual distribution channels. Detroit PBS's strategy revolves around partnerships, owning important daily conversations and developing deeper relationships with audiences. "Yes, we produce television shows," he said. "But we produce them in a way that they can play on about 60 different platforms across our organization."

That philosophy extends to audience development. Detroit PBS has grown from 67,000 to 81,000 members in two years, with roughly half of its revenue coming from individual donors. "We love viewers," Homberg said. "Let's turn them into subscribers."

The objective is eventually to turn those relationships into membership and long-term loyalty.

A lesson for all local media

Asked what commercial publishers and broadcasters without Detroit PBS's resources could borrow from the strategy, Homberg's answer had nothing to do with buildings or technology. "Did you forget the audience? Go talk to them," he said.

Detroit PBS emphasizes face-to-face community relationships, and Homberg believes that commitment has to begin at the top. "Leadership has to be visible. Leadership has to drive this," he said.

And in an industry facing relentless technological and economic disruption, Homberg believes experimentation is essential. "You're gonna take a lot of shots on goal," he said. "A lot of them aren't gonna work."

Detroit PBS's new campus may be built of bricks, steel and technology, but Homberg's larger bet is on something much older: local relationships, trusted institutions and the belief that media organizations willing to reinvent themselves can still grow. "You've got to experiment," he said.