Ideastream Public Media is Northeast Ohio's public media organization, based in Cleveland and home to PBS station WVIZ, NPR news station WKSU, classical WCLV and JazzNEO. It also manages The Ohio Channel and the Statehouse News Bureau in Columbus.
Ideastream Public Media is a nonprofit public media organization headquartered at the Idea Center in Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was formed in 2001, when the boards of television station WVIZ and radio station WCPN consolidated their resources into a single organization, and it took its current name in 2021. It serves 22 counties across Northeast Ohio, a potential audience of about 3.6 million people, on radio, television and digital platforms, and describes itself as home to Ohio's largest NPR, PBS and classical radio stations.
Its services include WVIZ, Cleveland's PBS member station, on the air since 1965, and its subchannels; WKSU, the region's NPR news and information station, which is licensed to Kent State University and has been operated by Ideastream under a public service operating agreement since October 2021; WCLV, a classical music station and the originating station for Cleveland Orchestra radio broadcasts; and JazzNEO, a full-time jazz station and streaming service. Since 2025 it has also operated WCSB, which is owned by Cleveland State University.
On behalf of Ohio's public broadcasting stations, Ideastream manages The Ohio Channel and the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau from offices in Columbus, and it is a partner with other Ohio NPR stations in The Ohio Newsroom, a statewide news service. Its local productions include the Sound of Ideas and the middle school news series NewsDepth, and its education department serves students and teachers across the region.
In September 2026 Ideastream and PBS Western Reserve announced an agreement to merge, which would bring PBS Western Reserve under the Ideastream Public Media name and extend its service to the Youngstown area and western Pennsylvania.
Ideastream employs about 150 full-time and part-time staff in Cleveland and Columbus. It hires for news and content roles such as reporters, video producers and hosts, along with television and digital production, classical and jazz programming, education, marketing, fundraising and development, accounting, broadcast engineering and information technology. It offers paid internships year-round to undergraduate and graduate students, and its benefits include medical coverage, a 403(b) plan with an employer match, paid time off and hybrid work schedules.
