Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Nov 17, 2025

John Oliver discusses the vital role public media plays in the lives of many Americans, how the Trump Administration’s massive budget cuts could impact those Americans directly, and why Mr. Bean is the greatest British comedian in history. Ya, that’s right, Rowan “Mr. Bean” Atkinson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknMJOgy2pA

#lastweektonight #CPBFunding #CPBCuts #PublicRadio #CommunityRadio #USPol #TrumpSucks #NativeAmericanRadio #CultureOfWar
#TrumpSucks #NativePublicMedia
#PublicMedia #CommunityRadio #EmergencyCommunications
#CorporationForPublicBroadcasting

#AdoptAStation Database:

https://adoptastation.org/

#CBPFundingCuts #CommunityRadio #PublicBroadcasting #PublicRadio #PublicMedia #CPBFunding #CPB
#CollegeRadio #DumbingUsDown #KeepingUsInTheDark #TrumpSucks #Fundraising #EmergencyFundraising

#California’s #NPR and #PBS stations will cut staff and programs after funding slashed

By Maya C. Miller and Cayla Mihalovich
July 29, 2025 10:05 AM PT

"Small NPR and PBS stations in California are teetering after Congress pulled funding from #PublicBroadcasting. Even big stations are bracing for cuts.

"Dozens of California public broadcasting stations will lose millions of dollars after Republicans in Congress voted to strip them of federal funding, cutting off a vital lifeline in rural communities and limiting access to local news programming in an era of hyperpartisan national media.

"While California broadcasters are assuring audiences that they plan to keep their signals running, they also warn that cost-saving changes are inevitable.

"Radio and television stations of all sizes across the Golden State say that to survive, they’ll likely be forced to lay off staff and cut programming unless they’re able to make up the losses through fundraising. Their leaders warn that the cuts will disproportionately harm locally produced programs, the most expensive to create but among their most popular content, that inform millions of listeners and viewers.

"Republicans have long wanted to cut funding for public broadcasting, arguing such services should be funded by private donors, not taxpayers. Their efforts prevailed when Congress last week finalized President Trump’s request to rescind $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides grants to National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service, their affiliates and other independent public media creators. All nine of California’s #Republican members of #Congress voted in favor of the funding cuts.

"Now, roughly 35 stations from #SanDiego to #Hoopa in #HumboldtCounty have lost critical funding.

"While many public broadcasters remain hopeful that they’ll find ways to endure, all agree the rescission undermines the #egalitarian mission of public media — to create a nationwide network that provides access to quality information, stories and music for local #communities.

" 'That has been our superpower,' said Joe Moore, president and general manager of #KVPR #ValleyPublicRadio in #Fresno. His station lost about 7% of its budget, or $175,000, from the #CPB.

" 'The New York Times doesn’t have the type of investment in #Alaska or in #NorthDakota — or on #TribalReservations, bringing local news from these communities — that public radio does.'

"Smaller stations whose budgets relied heavily on federal dollars to make ends meet are the most at risk of closure. In Eureka, the community-owned PBS affiliate #KEET-TV stands to lose $847,000 — nearly half of its operating budget — due to the defunding of CPB. To survive, all of its funding will need to come from #CommunitySupport, since the station has no institutional backer such as a local college or school district.

"David Gordon, KEET’s general manager and executive director, says that as much as he hopes the station will stay afloat even at reduced capacity, he won’t make the same bold proclamation that, 'We’re not going anywhere,' like some stations have.

" 'I can’t guarantee that KEET will be here once the dust settles from this defunding move,' Gordon said. He emphasized that he was speaking for himself and not on behalf of his station.

" 'I hope it is, and I think there’s a good chance that it’ll survive in some form. But absolutely will it? I don’t know if I can say that.'

"Nearby, Mendocino-based NPR member station #KZYX was forced to lay off its news director after losing 25% of its operating budget, or $174,000, from the CPB. That means news will include fewer in-depth stories, such as interviews with city council members or county supervisors, said Andre de Channes, KZYX’s general manager and director of operations.

" 'There isn’t the time to source out those kinds of things,' he said. 'So the news gets more like a headline news.'

"The station serves roughly 130,000 listeners, including in Mendocino County and part of Lake County. When De Channes first learned about the CPB cuts, he immediately worried about fire safety, since listeners who live in #OffTheGrid #RuralAreas without access to internet or cell service rely on KZYX for #EmergencyInformation.

"Those potentially lifesaving #EmergencyAlerts became a rallying cry for public media providers and their allies as they begged Congress to preserve funding for their stations, especially those in remote, rural areas that also tend to be Republican. Frank Lanzone, the longtime general manager of the NPR-affiliated KCBX in San Luis Obispo, said his station has sometimes been the only on-air source providing emergency information during #SevereWeather events.

" 'There’s been several times in very bad storms when we’re the only station on the air in our area because of either power outages or people’s generators ran out of propane,' said Lanzone, who has worked in public radio for more than 50 years.
KCBX, which serves about 45,000 listeners from Santa Barbara to Monterey, will lose $240,000 in funding from CPB, about 13% of its operating budget.

" 'It’s going to hurt the stations and the people that listen to them who need it the most,' Lanzone said. 'The most vulnerable, the ones out in the middle of nowhere.'

"Local programs are most at risk
Both radio and television station leaders emphasized that local programming — shows that are created and produced in-house rather than purchased from another producer — will be first on the chopping block. To produce locally focused public television programming, stations must invest additional time, money and work on top of the membership dues they pay to be affiliated with PBS, which unlocks a large catalogue of programming that they can air at no additional cost.

"For PBS viewers in the Inland Empire, that likely means the loss of popular local programs such as '#InlandEdition,' an Emmy-winning weekly half-hour public affairs show, and '#LearnWithMe,' an award-winning #bilingual English-Spanish children’s show, both of which are produced in house by affiliate KVCR.

" 'The local stuff that’s so important to people is probably the stuff that’ll go away,' said Connie Leyva, executive director of KVCR and a former Democratic state senator. The station stands to lose about $550,000 in annual CPB funding, about 6% of its budget.
She emphasized that the station also wanted to preserve its journalism staff — two full-time reporters and one part-time — who have recently focused on federal #ImmigrationRaids taking place across the region.

" 'If we’re not here, the #InlandEmpire is just hearing about what’s happening in Los Angeles,' Leyva said. 'We want to know what’s happening in our backyard, what’s happening at the schools around us, what’s happening at the Home Depots around us.' "

Read more:
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-07-29/californias-npr-and-pbs-stations-will-cut-staff-and-programs-after-funding-slashed

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/Lur03

#ImmigrationRaids #ICERaids #ClimateChange #SevereWeather #KeepingUsInTheDark #CPBFunding #CPBFundingCuts #TrumpSucks

College-Affiliated #PublicMedia Stand to Lose Big Under Cuts

The Trump administration’s cuts to #PublicRadio and television may create #NewsDeserts and limit experiential learning opportunities for students.

By Ashley Mowreader, July 23, 2025

"Recent federal cuts are hacking at an additional piece of college and university budgets and operations: on-campus broadcast and radio stations.

"On July 18, Congress voted to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (#CPB), which gives money to #NPR, #PBS and their member stations. The move hurts #LocalStations across the country, particularly in #rural regions, as well as dozens of broadcast hubs located at or affiliated with #colleges.

"More than half of NPR’s 1,000 member stations are licensed to or affiliated with colleges or #universities, according to NPR’s website. A 2019 PBS article listed 49 university and college public television licensees, a majority of which belong to public institutions—many of them flagship or public #LandGrant universities, but some community and technical #colleges as well.

"Data analysis by Alex Curley, a former NPR staffer and author of the blog Semipublic, found that university licensees were far more dependent than non-college affiliated stations on 'non-operating revenue,' which includes #CPBFunding and other money allocated by their parent organization to cover losses. Out of the 173 public stations Curley analyzed, 129 university licensees relied on nonoperating revenue for about 41 percent of their total revenue, compared to the 21 percent it covered for non-college–affiliated stations.

" 'For stations that lose federal funding, especially those who are losing a lot in relation to total revenue, that’s going to put a huge burden on their parent organization [the college or university] because they’re the only ones who can cover that deficit,' Curley said.

"On average, CPB funding makes up 12 percent of independently owned and operated public radio stations’ budgets, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School 2023 State of Local News Report. Curley’s analysis found that 15 percent of all stations relied on federal funding for 50 percent or more of their total revenue intake.

"An Inside Higher Ed analysis of Curley’s data found that cuts to CPB and other relevant federal funding could decimate university-based stations’ expected revenue.

Methodology

"To compile his database, Adopt a Station, Curley drew on two types of financial reports by public broadcast statements to identify where they sourced their revenue and how much federal funding they received. Based on these reports, Curley estimated how a lack of CPB dollars and other relevant grants would impact total revenue sources. [See the full database at link below.]

"#HowardUniversity’s TV station, #WHUT — which was recently awarded two Emmys for its work—lost as much as 21 percent, based on 2023 numbers from the station’s financial reports of revenue from federal sources.

"#KISU, the local station for #IdahoStateUniversity students and community members—which produces the athletics broadcast for Division 1 sports—is also poised to take a hit; 30 percent of the station’s funding comes from student fees, but an additional 30 percent comes from CPB.

"Some institutions host both radio and TV stations that saw budgets slashed. At #VincennesUniversity in #Indiana, TV station #WVUT is projected to lose 39 percent of its usual revenue from CPB dollars, while radio station #WVUB could lose 27 percent, according to Curley’s data, which would place greater pressure on the institution to fill the gap.

"In #WashingtonState, #SkagitValleyCommunityCollege’s radio station, #KSVR—which provides bilingual reporting to the Mount Vernon community, hosted by staff, local and student volunteers—is projected to lose 20 percent of its revenue.

"The cuts will also likely reduce opportunities on many campuses for students to gain hands-on experience working in a newsroom or alongside professionals. When cuts took place at public media stations in the past, those affiliated with a college or university were less likely to see reductions in force, Curley said—in part because the university could cover the losses they incurred.

"Now, in an environment where colleges and universities are facing deficits across revenue sources, college-based media stations have less of a safety net.

" 'I have no idea what’s going to happen,' Curley said. 'It’s almost new territory for many university licensees.'

"#ElizabethCityStateUniversity’s on-campus station, #WRVS, has five employees and a gaggle of student interns, work-study students and community volunteers who keep the station up and running. But under the latest federal cuts, WRVS’s expected revenue will be slashed an estimated 71 percent.

"Not every university-affiliated station has the same reliance on federal dollars; the University of Georgia’s WUGA, for instance, reported that just 1 percent of total revenue came from federal funds in 2023. The University of Florida’s WUFT-FM received about 5 percent of total revenue from the government, thanks in part to #fundraising efforts and in part to the success of the station in its local area, Curley said.

"A 2023 survey of 215 public radio stations found that, on average, colleges contribute less than 15 percent of funding to affiliated radio stations, and 80 percent of stations thought it was unlikely that they would receive additional financial support from their institution.

"In some parts of the country, student publications, radio and TV stations are the singular source of news for communities. But a lack of funding and support for current operations remains a primary barrier to getting more students involved in public media, according to a 2023 survey by the University of Vermont.

"The move to cut funding for CPB is generally unpopular with Americans. A Harris Poll on behalf of NPR published in July found that two-thirds of nearly 2,100 Americans surveyed support federal funding for public radio, with a similar number calling it a good value for taxpayer dollars. A 2025 survey found that 47 percent of viewers say PBS’s value for public dollars is excellent and an additional 29 percent said it’s good."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/financial-health/2025/07/23/college-affiliated-public-media-stand-lose-big-under-cuts#

#AdoptAStation Database:
https://adoptastation.org/

#CBPFundingCuts
#CollegeRadio #DumbingUsDown #KeepingUsInTheDark #TrumpSucks

So, apparently one of my favorite stations, #WMPG, lost their #CPBFunding a few years ago (but did receive a big grant a couple of years ago to help the station make much-needed upgrades, including a new transmitter).

But for the last few years, they have been relying on community support, local #Underwriters, and have found other ways to donate (Clynk bottle returns, proceeds from junk car donations, etc). And a university department "adopted" the station to help with funding, but who knows if that will still be there!

WMPG working to qualify for a CPB Community Service Grant again

March 13, 2023

"You may have noticed that we no longer have CPB underwriting announcements read after some of our programs. This is due to WMPG no longer receiving this funding. For more than 20 years WMPG has received this funding but last year we lost the funding due to no longer meeting their qualifications. Radio stations like ours need to meet certain criteria to be funded including the number of listeners as measured by a ratings agency, the number of paid staff, the amount of non-federal funds raised and financial reports. We had an issue with our financial reports which led to this. We are working hard to re-qualify and starting in July will move under a department at USM. We are hoping this will lead to another 20 years of funding from this important source of support!"

https://www.wmpg.org/wmpg-working-to-qualify-for-a-cpb-community-service-grant-again/

#CommunityRadio #FundraisingIdeas #CommunitySupport #CBPFundingCuts #CollegeRadio

#NativeAmerican radio stations at risk as #USCongress looks to cut $1B in public broadcasting funding

By MARGERY A. BECK
Updated 12:06 AM EDT, July 16, 2025

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — "Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.

"The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.

" 'For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,' said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. 'If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.'

"Native American communities rely on local radio stations

"Local radio plays an outsized role in the lives of many who live in Indigenous communities, where cable television and broadband internet access are spotty, at best, and nonexistent for many. That leaves over-the-air TV stations — usually a PBS station — and more often local radio to provide local news, community event details and music by Indigenous artists. Sometimes the news is delivered in Indigenous languages.

" 'It means we’re not going to hear our language on the radio,' Blythe-Lewis said.

"Flagstaff, Arizona-based #NativePublic #Media, which supports the network of 59 radio stations and three television stations serving tribal nations across the country, said about three dozen of those radio stations that rely heavily on Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be the first to go dark if funding is cut for the coming fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

"Loris Taylor, CEO of Native Public Media, said in an op-ed that the tribal stations reach more than 1.5 million people and 'may be the only source of locally relevant news, emergency alerts, public safety announcements, language preservation, health information and election coverage.'

Republicans face pressure to pass the cuts

"GOP senators are under pressure from President Donald Trump, who promised last week on his Truth Social platform that any Republican who votes against the cuts 'will not have my support or Endorsement.' "

"Many Republicans say the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, recently defended the cuts as necessary to hack away at the nearly $37 trillion national debt, adding, 'It is critical in restoring trust in government.'

"But some Republicans have pushed back, such as Maine Sen. #SusanCollins, who questioned the proposed cuts last month during a Senate committee hearing. She said that while some of the federal money is assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, most of it goes to locally owned public radio and television stations."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/congress-is-looking-to-cut-1b-in-public-broadcasting-funding-and-native-american-radio-stations-are-at-risk

#NativeAmericanRadio #PublicRadio #CulturalGenocide #USSenate #BudgetCuts
#CPB #CPBFunding #PublicRadio #CommunityRadio #TrumpSucks #USPol #Censorship #Fascism #Authoritarianism

'If I wasn't here, people could die': Trump public media cuts could hit rural America

Thomas Copeland, BBC World Service
July 15, 2025

"A gale-force storm hit north-eastern #Alaska last winter. Residents of #Kotzebue, a town of about 3,000, are used to polar conditions, so Desiree Hagan still had to get to work.

" 'The snow was so intense you could not see in front of you,' Ms Hagan remembers. 'I was walking backwards to work.'

"Ms Hagan is a reporter at a public radio station, #KOTZ, which airs across Kotzebue and its 12 surrounding villages.
She also happens to be the only US journalist stationed inside the Arctic Circle, so as the storm intensified, she had to get on the air.

" 'It's go time, I have to report on this,' recalls Ms Hagan. 'We have to make sure we know where people can go. Oh, the electric is out. Okay, now the airport is flooded.'

" 'Winter is not a joke here, it is life and death,' she tells the BBC. 'As a reporter I try not to make emotional statements like, if I wasn't here, people could die, but that is a reality.'

"On the other side of the country in #WashingtonDC, however, a historic vote could bring federal support for KOTZ to an end.

"The Senate must decide by the end of the week whether to claw back $1.1bn (£800m) from the #CorporationForPublicBroadcasting, the body that distributes federal funding to public radio and television stations.

"While the #PublicMedia cuts are part of a broad spending package, which includes requests to rescind $8.3bn from the United States Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programmes, they are especially dear to President Donald Trump, who frequently accuses media of bias.

"The president has now threatened to pull his support from any Republican senator who does not support the cuts.

" 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday night.

"Executives at National Public Radio (#NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (#PBS) reject accusations of bias and say they abide by all journalistic standards.

"Republican voters, however, are about three times less likely than Democrats to consume or trust news coverage from either outlet, according to the Pew Research Center.

"While the cuts will affect national broadcasters like NPR and PBS, more than 70% of federal funding goes to local media stations and about 45% of the stations that received funding in 2023 are in rural areas.

"For half of those rural stations, federal grants made up a quarter or more of their revenue. At KOTZ in Kotzebue, public funding constitutes 41% of its income.

" 'By no means is it assured of being passed in the Senate, where many of the Republican senators represent rural states that really do benefit from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,' Democratic congressman Dan Goldman, co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, told the BBC World Service's Weekend programme.

"Republican Senator #LisaMurkowski of Alaska has said she opposes the cuts to public media stations, warning that "what may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska".
'Almost to a number, they're saying that they will go under if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them,' Murkowski told a Senate hearing last month. "

Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20w51rkw4no?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/ltoA4

#USSenate #BudgetCuts #CPB #CPBFunding #PublicRadio #PublicTelevision #CollegeRadio #CommunityRadio #TrumpSucks #TrumpHatesThePoor #USPol #Censorship #Fascism #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #TrumpIsABigUglyDespot