Jason Aaron Smith
Media Fellow
Project Manager, Wisconsin Public Media/PBS Wisconsin
Biography
Jason Aaron Smith is a public media innovator specializing in program evaluation, audience intelligence, and strategic impact reporting across the public media ecosystem. Combining deep editorial experience with data-driven strategy, Jason works at the intersection of community engagement, project management, and organizational leadership to maximize public media’s value to the public.
As an Administrative Project Manager at PBS Wisconsin, Jason leads initiatives designed to translate audience feedback into actionable strategy. He established and leads the EARS Group, an internal Audience Intelligence cross-functional team dedicated to identifying and developing impact data needs and processes. To better assess public media service gaps and understand how audiences perceive and value the station’s mission, he developed and implemented an annual community survey alongside targeted surveys around core service areas such as news and music. He also informs station-wide strategic planning, guiding executive leadership and staff in tracking progress toward departmental and organizational goals.
Jason’s evaluation and reporting work shapes PBS’s impact strategy on a national scale. As a member of the national PBS ImPack team and co-developer of the PBS Impact logic model, he collaborates with evaluation leaders to provide impact guidance and resources for the entire PBS system through digital communities, proprietary platforms, and in-person presentations at both the 2025 and 2026 PBS Annual Meetings.
Beyond evaluation, Jason oversees high-profile public initiatives, including the statewide America@250 civic engagement initiative, the Rural Reporting Project, and the award-winning Wisconsin Foodie series. His background includes thirteen years at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters as Associate Director and Communications Director and editorial project management with The Great Books Foundation in Chicago. Jason holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago and professional certifications in project management, change management, and data literacy.
The work I am currently involved in with PTML centers on the effects of AI disclosure on public media audiences across legacy and emerging platforms.