#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
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