NPR came into being when a couple of administration officials snuck “and radio” after every mention of “television” in LBJ’s Public Television Act, which was sent from the Oval Office to Capitol Hill in February of 1967. Washingtonian Magazine takes a long look at the road NPR has taken to become a thriving news organization and wonders if it has lost its roots along the way. The once freewheeling alternative network now has more foreign bureaus than the Washington Post and draws 26 million listeners a week. It is also financially sound and nearly independent from the body that created it – only one percent of NPR’s revenues come from Congress.
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