The academic community in the United States for the most part has failed over the past decade to focus its attention on the preservation and improvement of the American public broadcasting system, either through institutionally cooperative, sponsored research or independently generated work. That public broadcasting research has been neglected because of the lack of a forum for its presentation, is shown in the results of a literature search: 60 examples of public broadcasting published articles, conference papers, and dissertations. Academic apathy has contributed to this situation, and by allowing academic voices to remain "quiet" on the subject of public broadcasting, scholars risk losing both the opportunity to discuss public broadcasting and the very medium itself as it was envisioned. (Two tables of data are included; 10 notes, 24 references, a 60-item bibliography of public broadcasting research, and a 19-item bibliography of Corporation for Public Broadcasting research are attached.) (RS)