A group of philanthropies is pledging $36.5 million to public TV and radio stations that are at risk of closing after the Trump administration and congressional Republicans shut down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB’s closure will impact 1,500 stations nationwide, including 115 that relied on it for more than 30% of their budget.
‘Critical sources of information and connection’
“Stations serving rural, small to mid-market and Native communities as well as documentary ecosystems are disproportionately impacted by the funding cuts and need intentional support,” John Palfrey, president of the MacArthur Foundation, said in a statement. “These stations are more than just broadcasters — they are critical sources of information and connection.”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Aug. 1 that it is winding down its operations due to a total loss of funding. The CPB lost $1.1 billion for this year when congressional Republicans passed a $9 billion rescissions package in July. The final nail in the coffin came July 31, when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a government funding bill for 2026 that doesn’t include anything for the CPB.
The budget cuts have already forced stations to scale back or even eliminate teams and programming. That includes local news, emergency alerts and educational content.
The stations the foundations are hoping to help the most serve a total of 43 million people.
“Local public media stations are trusted community anchors that connect people to vital news, culture and civic life,” Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, said in a statement.
The foundations partaking in the endeavor include: the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Pivotal, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
How are WETA and PBS NewsHour responding?
WETA, the PBS station in Washington that produces PBS NewsHour and documentaries like Ken Burns’ “The American Revolution,” will lose a minimum of $18 million over the next two years. As a result, the station is implementing an immediate hiring freeze and will not provide raises or cost-of-living adjustments to its employees.
The station will lose community service grants, which amount to $9 million per year. They will also lose CPB funding for program development, production, technical infrastructure and emergency alert systems.
The station said that the amount changes yearly depending on programming, but often adds up to about 10% of their budget, which totaled $124 million in 2023.
“We won’t compromise on quality. We will have to make changes on scope and quantity of what we produce and offer,” WETA Vice President Mary Stewart told SAN. “We will not be able to continue to do all that we currently do.”
The station said it did not have layoffs or any other cuts to announce. But an employee at the station said they expect layoffs in October when the federal government’s new fiscal year begins and the current grants expire.
“WETA has strong public support and will continue to serve this community and the nation, but we must make difficult decisions about programs and services to cut as we navigate this loss of funding,” Stewart told SAN.
In an attempt to make up some of the lost funds, the station launched WETA+, a free app that allows users to watch their broadcast channel live and stream shows on demand.
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Author: Alex Delia
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