I have spent 30 years in broadcasting. So when PBS leaders say they are “defunded but not defeated” and NPR’s chief executive defends the current system as essential to local journalism, I hear passion but not a plan.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is standing down after Congress eliminated its funding. The only way forward is to treat public media like a business: Cut legacy costs, reset executive culture and redirect dollars into journalism and education where audiences already are — online.

The numbers are clear. The 2017 FCC spectrum auction revealed the hidden value of legacy assets. Public TV licensees collected roughly $10 billion in payments to broadcasters.

WLVT in Pennsylvania received $82 million, KOCE in Los Angeles took in $49 million, and San Bernardino netted $157 million simply by moving to different frequencies. That was eight years ago, and it proved that spectrum and towers are worth more as assets than as relics.

Operating costs tell the same story. A 10- to 20-kilowatt FM transmitter burns through tens of thousands of........

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