This paper is an attempt to answer the question about how missionary cultural programming duties are carried out by the American National Public Radio (NPR). For almost fifty years, NPR has been an alternative to the programming of commercial radio broadcasters, filling the gaps present in their schedules. But do listeners in the United States still need the American public radio today, in the times of an abundance of digital audio broadcasters? This article, focused on NPR literary broadcasts, and on the WAMC network’s “The Book Show” in particular, was based on intensive interviews, conducted with employees of public media institutions in Upstate New York during the spring of 2019, and content analysis of radio broadcasts. Results of the study indicate that American public broadcasters do play a significant role in the promotion of reading.

This paper is an attempt to answer the question about how missionary cultural programming duties are carried out by the American National Public Radio (NPR). For almost fifty years, NPR has been an alternative to the programming of commercial radio broadcasters, filling the gaps present in their schedules. But do listeners in the United States still need the American public radio today, in the times of an abundance of digital audio broadcasters? This article, focused on NPR literary broadcasts, and on the WAMC network’s “The Book Show” in particular, was based on intensive interviews, conducted with employees of public media institutions in Upstate New York during the spring of 2019, and content analysis of radio broadcasts. Results of the study indicate that American public broadcasters do play a significant role in the promotion of reading.