Two public radio stations. Two different business models. One future of public radio in Boston hangs in the balance.

“This year came harder and faster than we planned for,” WBUR chief executive Margaret Low said in an interview.

Commercial news companies have struggled to adapt to the digital age, with changes in traditional business models leading newspapers to close and costing thousands of journalists their jobs. News outlets now compete with streaming services and social media platforms for people’s attention, subscriptions, and advertiser dollars.

That makes sustaining public media, with its mission to serve the public interest, vital for democracy, said Victor Pickard, a University of Pennsylvania media policy professor.

“There’s a greater need for public broadcasting than ever before, especially as entire areas and sectors of our commercial news media system is crumbling before our eyes,” he said.

Traditionally, GBH was known for easing into its day with bird songs and playing jazz and classical music. But it shifted to news in December 2009, prompting questions of whether Boston could support both GBH and WBUR, a longtime news outlet.

By 2017, the debate seemed settled. GBH had quickly built an audience and rocketed to 10th among the nation’s NPR news stations, behind WBUR at number six.

Both stations now air NPR programming such as “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” each with their own local flair, along with original programming. WBUR is still the top news station in Boston. GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” — hosted by Jim Braude and Margery Eagan — outperforms WBUR during the midday slot, the station’s only ratings victory.

The two organizations have amassed relatively large news operations. WBUR has a total of 220 workers — including 130 editorial staffers, of which 80 focus on local news. Meanwhile, GBH’s newsroom has about 100 employees, out of roughly 850 workers across the organization. GBH also owns other radio stations and a television station, and produces PBS programming such as “Antiques Roadshow,” “Nova,” and “Frontline,” which bring in significant revenue.

But both stations’ live radio audiences have in recent years declined, according to analyses of Nielsen ratings. 90.9 WBUR had about 387,500 weekly listeners in February, down from the 534,400 weekly listeners the Globe reported in 2017. Over the same period, 89.7 GBH’s weekly audience fell to 299,000 from 445,200. Both GBH and WBUR said their online audiences add far more listeners and readers.

In the past few months, both WBUR and GBH have been forced to reckon with major challenges to their businesses.

WBUR has seen “a dramatic loss in advertising dollars,” Low said, reflecting a decline in advertising across the news industry.

WBUR’s revenue from advertising, or underwriting, made up a quarter of revenue last year and fell to just under $10.4 million in 2023 from nearly $17.8 million in 2019, according to public financial statements. Other revenue, including listener donations, has grown, but not nearly enough to make up for the advertising losses.

The station recently urged donors to give more, and offered employee buyouts in an effort to cut 10 percent of its budget. That buyout plan likely won’t be enough to avoid layoffs and a hiring freeze for some jobs, Low told staff last week.

At GBH, revenue has “remained stable,” leaders told employees last week, according to a company recording obtained by the Globe. But they said inflation and spending on items such as medical benefits, travel, events, and marketing soared last year as pandemic-era restrictions subsided, leaving GBH in the red. Total operating expenses rose to $288 million last year, from $268 million in 2019, according to public financial statements. A spokesperson said 89.7 GBH accounts for roughly 15 percent of GBH’s business.

GBH reported an $18.7 million operating deficit last year, according to its annual report. GBH’s core entities, which includes the Boston newsroom and its PBS production business, operated at a $7 million deficit last year after two years of surpluses, the chief financial officer told staff last week. The organization is on track to report another shortfall this year.

GBH executives warned employees of potential layoffs during the meeting and chief executive Susan Goldberg told staff she thinks voluntary buyouts “are not a good strategy.”

“These are really complicated times,” Goldberg told staff last week. “There is a lot to be optimistic and excited about, in terms of ways that we can reach our audiences. And there’s a lot that we still have to really work on to get our finances in order.”

Staff at GBH and WBUR said they fear for the future of both stations, and for public radio.

“We’re supposed to be there when no one else is there,” said one GBH newsroom employee not authorized to speak publicly. “We’re not supposed to be beholden to the swings of the market and the swings of the ratings.”

But public radio stations in Washington, D.C., and Colorado have laid off staff this year. And national data show a 16 percent drop in local NPR radio listeners between 2019 and 2022, while weekly podcast listenership rose to nearly one in three Americans in 2023.

Audacy, the nation’s second largest commercial radio broadcaster and owner of Boston-based WEEI and Magic 106.7, filed for bankruptcy in January. All together, the city’s commercial and public radio stations make for a crowded landscape.

“There’s a lot of battle for those ears,” said Scott Fybush, a broadcast consultant and editor of Northeast Radio Watch.

Public radio stations, which according to media leaders and industry reports, have typically drawn an older and whiter audience, need to consider how to reach younger, more diverse populations.

“This is a juncture for public radio to look at both its purpose and its sustainability,” said Laura Walker, Bennington College president and the former CEO of New York Public Radio.

GBH has been trying to reach an audience on YouTube and innovate its “Morning Edition” program with two younger hosts and a chattier, less formal vibe. WBUR has doubled down on podcasts and newsletters, as well as live events at its event center CitySpace, Low said.

“These organizations have had to transform on a dime and become totally modern media organizations — not with huge budgets,” Low said. “That’s the tension of the moment that we’re in.”

At least some WBUR reporters are not happy about the digital efforts, said Bruce Gellerman, a former WBUR reporter. Gellerman said he and some of his former colleagues believe WBUR should focus on improving its audio offerings, whether that’s live radio, streaming, or podcasts.

“There’s no better public radio audience in the world than right here,” he said. “Bring them along, grab those ears, nurture them, and they’ll come.”

In response, Low said the station must focus on both audio and digital, but “radio will always be core.”

GBH’s digital push also has caused some consternation in that newsroom. Some employees felt that management’s focus on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok has harmed the organization’s radio and TV programming and has created a culture of fear and intimidation, the Globe reported in February. Goldberg said in an interview that GBH is “working very hard” to improve parts of its organizational culture.

The GBH newsroom employee who spoke to the Globe for this story said the station should work for digital relevance, but the current effort “feels too little, too late.”

Goldberg responded that digital transformation is not new, and “half of our audience is consuming news on our digital platforms.”

The turbulence at both news organizations is igniting the question of whether the two can still coexist in Boston.

“This is a really good moment for both stations to think about what a consolidation might look like,” said Andrew Ramsammy, a former public media executive and cofounder of media consultancy Equimedia Advisors.

But any talks of a merger are likely dead on arrival.

Low said she hears the question of whether WBUR would merge with GBH, but declined to comment. Goldberg said the stations have not discussed a merger.

“I don’t see any reason why Boston — a place like Boston, my gosh, the smartest people in the world — can’t support two wonderful news organizations like BUR and GBH,” Goldberg said. She insisted both organizations serve different audience needs, and what GBH does “is unique in this marketplace.”

Cynthia Clark, 73, a Newton resident who has been listening to both stations since the 1970s, said Boston doesn’t need, and now apparently cannot support, two news stations.

But she said she would “give big” if they merged: “It could be one pretty damn good radio station.”

This story has been updated to clarify the number of newsroom employees at WBUR.

Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.