Taylor Shore is the New Chief Content Officer at Milwaukee PBS TV

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Photo by Tom Jenz

Taylor Shore - Milwaukee PBS TV

Milwaukee PBS Chief Content Officer Taylor Shore

For many viewers, Milwaukee PBS is less a television station than a habit. It’s there in the early evening or late at night, steady and relaxed, asking for your attention without demanding it. You might watch “All Creatures Great and Small,” “Antiques Roadshow” or “PBS NewsHour.” Locally, programs like “Outdoor Wisconsin” “Black Nouveau” and “The Arts Page” remind you of where you live and who you share Wisconsin with.

This sense of familiarity did not happen by accident. Over decades, Milwaukee PBS has grown into a trusted presence across southeast Wisconsin, parts of south-central Wisconsin, and northern Illinois. Broadcasting through Channels 10 and 36, along with several digital services, it remains the region’s primary over-the-air home for PBS programming. It is also one of the most-watched public television stations in the country, an achievement built more on consistency than publicity.

The station’s mission reaches beyond the screen. As an outreach arm of Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee PBS trains about 60 television and video production students each year, placing them alongside working professionals in studios where the standards are high. Financially, the station is stable, supported by a mix of public funding, foundation grants, corporate backing, and individual donors who still believe thoughtful television has a role to play.

So why would a media organization this established hire a new chief content officer? That question led me to Taylor Shore. Not long ago, Shore arrived in Milwaukee from Iowa PBS, but she carried herself like someone already settled into the work. Grounded. Curious. Ready to talk not just about programming, but about purpose. In a media world increasingly driven by speed and noise, Shore’s role centers on something quieter and harder: deciding what stories are worth telling, and how to tell them well in our shifting digital landscape.

We met in her fourth-floor office in the downtown MATC building. There were no assistants to greet me, just Taylor Shore with her steady smile and delightful disposition.

Tell me about your upbringing, your parents, neighborhood, and schooling.

I was born and raised in Burlington, Iowa. I have two older brothers. I went to Mediapolis Public High School. Mediapolis is a small town near Burlington.  

When you were in school, did you have a career goal?

When I was a young girl, I wanted to be a novelist. I did all the writers conferences as a kid. But in high school, my goal was to be a journalist and work for a newspaper. I went to the University of Northern Iowa for my bachelor’s degree in English with journalism as my minor. But I was doing web development on the side. Then, I got my master’s degree in rhetoric, composition and communication at Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. After college, I did various jobs related to my field, web development and writing. I was a jack of all trades. But 11 years ago, I got a job at Iowa Public Television. Eventually, they put me in charge of online video production. 

You were the director of emerging media at Iowa Public Broadcasting, headquartered in Des Moines. That meant overseeing broadcast programs for social, web, mobile, live streaming, and digital formats. How did you go about that?

Emerging media was a new position when I took it in 2015. The world of communication was changing, and Iowa PBS wanted to get into live streaming and social media. I was put in charge of the web development and digital marketing team. I worked with the video producers on creating digital content. I helped to figure out if we placed our content on YouTube and other social media outlets and how we developed apps for our different shows. We were figuring out how to access new audiences and how viewers were consuming content. Now, in the current market, a lot of viewers are watching short form content through digital streaming.

I’ve been following that trend. They are called “shorts,” and they appear on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, and so many more. These shorts seem to be skewed generally to a younger audience.

Yes, that’s true. At Iowa PBS, we produced 30-minute shows, and 60-minute documentaries, and we broke down both for online platforms.

Why did you take on the job of Chief Content Officer at Milwaukee PBS?

Milwaukee PBS checks all the boxes. It has been broadcasting for more than 65 years. It has been an important part of this community and has loyal audiences. Also, the Milwaukee area is diverse with lots of stories to tell. There is always something new to talk about. The area community strongly supports PBS TV.

Digital is the operative concept in communication. How will you help expand digital reach for PBS in southeastern Wisconsin?

Digital is my background. We will test out various digital platforms for our content. That includes marketing and fundraising. We will do testing throughout these platforms and do these tests again and again. We will take our talent and expand their creative areas. That could include podcasts and shorts.

And what might be examples of that content?

In Iowa, we extensively covered the 11-day Iowa State Fair. We did 70 different features around the State Fair, which included short form and vertical videos for viewing on smartphones. And all these videos were shown on YouTube, some on Facebook and Instagram. We also live streamed the parade and the queen contest.

So, is this the kind of approach you want to create at Milwaukee PBS?

I am still in the process of deciding that. In the short time I’ve been here, my team and I have established six goals, and one of them is in digital innovation. We will be making short digital videos from long form content, and experiment with photography and article writing. And I’m working with our marketing team to explore who we market our shows to. We live in a time where audiences don’t just want one type of content. We have to be a little bit of everywhere and a little bit of everything. 

Debbie Hamlett, the Milwaukee PBS general manager, once said, “Taylor’s experience will help Milwaukee PBS reach new audiences.” What might be examples of programming that will reach new audiences?

We will be focusing on history, arts and culture, business and innovation. I love history, and I’d like to see us do more local history programs. Our goals might be to consistently produce two documentaries, and two different series going on YouTube. We will do timely campaigns like the 250th anniversary of our country. 

At Milwaukee PBS, I understand you will try to strengthen local storytelling. Does that mean new programs?

Our cornerstone programs won’t go anywhere, but they might grow into different formats. But yes, we will try new programs and formats. For instance, we might have projects where long-form video isn't at the center of them. We could even have some smaller projects that are just photo-based. 

Why not more local programming in prime time, perhaps a documentary series or a talk show, for example?

I think we will do that. For instance, we will soon be bringing out documentaries about the underground railroad and also Hmong people in Milwaukee. We have our new program, Field Notes, that covers outdoor recreation and conservation. We still have a large audience that watches live television, not on an app, so we will keep that traditional long form format. But we will try to feature more local programming in prime time. 

The PBS audience seems skewed toward middle aged and older Americans. Why not more programming for the Gen Z audience, ages 14 to 29, or are Gen Z’rs hooked on internet programming like Tik Tok and YouTube?

The typical PBS audience is not Gen Z. The average viewer for PBS is more affluent and older, and skewed more heavily female. But Generation X is worth going after, ages 46-61. Gen Z prefers viewing the short form videos on streaming. I am 42, and a millennial, but I love short forms that appear on YouTube, for example.

I get that. So do I, but I can also find long form programing like documentaries and talk shows on YouTube.

Gen Z likes the creator content on steaming. Some girl named Jennifer might have 4 million followers, as she wanders around her house, talking relationships. 

Or a girl host might talk about fashion and try on different clothes. Or she might take the audience with her on a shopping trip. 

Maybe PBS could have a younger host on certain programs, but I do think the younger generation will get into longer form content as they get older. 

Today’s younger generation seems to have a shorter attention span. Their iPhones are designed for that.

True, but there are so many shorts on streaming that it seems harder for them to focus on a long form video. I’m 42, but I have trouble staying focused. I almost have to force myself to put my phone down at times. Or finish a book I’m reading.

On your job at Iowa PBS, you were involved in National PBS TV. I refer to the PBS Digital Immersion Program. What is the Digital Immersion Program?

PBS National created the Digital Immersion Program to help PBS stations across the country improve their digital prowess. Currently, it’s called the Acceleration Program. The idea is to take creators from different stations and help them set a goal in the world of digital and how to make that goal happen. The immersion part included a series of workshops for creators to immerse themselves in everything digital. I was one of the mentors who helped the creators.

I understand you are looking at audience development, identifying new audiences while engaging with existing viewers through data-driven analysis of key performance indicators or KPIs. What are key performance indicators? 

Those indicators are metrics that help station leaders decide if they are headed in the right direction. For example, at Iowa PBS, we measured the number of streams on local content on the PBS app. This helped us to create local campaigns. 

I understand that Milwaukee PBS has a number of new leaders.

We have a lot of new leadership. I’ve only been here for a couple months. Debbie Hamlet, our general manager, has been here for two and a half years. Our chief marketing person, Cameron Risher, has been here for a year. Scott, our chief engineer, has been here for eight months.

Why do you like working in public television?

That is a great question. Because PBS stations get community support, we can tell stories that matter to each community without having to worry about whether each story is commercially viable. We do programs because they are our mission, not because we will make a lot of money.