On March 26th, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” As the title suggests, this wasn’t an intellectually honest inquiry. At the hearing, Katherine Maher, NPR’s President and CEO, and Paula Kerger, the President and CEO of PBS, testified about the importance of federal funding for public media and answered questions from members of the House. Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) concluded the hearing with closing remarks that included the following prepared statement: “After listening to what we’ve heard today, we will be calling for the complete and total defund and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
A few days following the hearing on April 1st, President Trump posted on social media: "REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT 'MONSTERS' THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!"
Subsequent reporting by NPR, Politico and the New York Times has quoted sources in the Trump administration that indicates that an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo has been drafted to request that Congress rescind and eliminate all future funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including previously appropriated funds that would have supported stations in the upcoming fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025. If enacted, this rescission would create an immediate $525,521 budget deficit for JPR in the fiscal year that begins in just two months on July 1, 2025. If this memo is delivered to Congress, the House and Senate will then have 45 days to approve the rescission request or funding will remain in place for FY26 and FY27, unless a subsequent action is taken. A simple majority vote is required in the Senate for the rescission request to pass.
While much of the national reporting and political rhetoric on this issue has been framed around cutting funding to NPR and PBS, the impact of this action, if approved by Congress, would have the greatest negative results for local public media stations like JPR.
As I’ve written in this space before, federal funding for public media amounts to about 0.01% of federal spending. It is a highly successful example of a private-public partnership serving the entire country. On average, for every $1 in federal grant money an eligible public radio station receives, it raises $7 from local sources.
Federal support provides foundational support that is essential to JPR’s public service mission.
- It helps support the increased infrastructure costs of serving small rural communities that requires a more complex and expensive technical plant. JPR’s network of transmitters and translators is one of the largest in the nation.
- It helps support JPR’s local newsroom. Like many stations across the country, JPR has stepped up to expand its local reporting capacity in the wake of the decline of local newspapers, which have lost 60% of their newsroom employees over the last two decades. Of the 204 news desert counties identified by the State of Local News Project as having no source of local news, 67 are being served by a local public radio station. And, public radio signals also cover 658 one-source counties – meaning public radio is making a real impact improving the information needs of citizens in communities all over the U.S. Since 2012, public radio stations have added over 900 newsroom employees – journalists, editors and producers – while also investing in training and internship programs designed to develop the next generation of local journalists.
- It helps support JPR’s truly unique noncommercial music programming. Although Americans have many options when it comes to music listening, the noncommercial music provided by public radio is one of the few music listening options that is available to all Americans, regardless of their access to technology or their ability to pay for music streaming services. Public media music programming doesn’t require listeners to have a credit card, give up their personal data, or sit through targeted advertisements. On-air classical music would virtually cease to exist in the United States without the public radio system, with 96% of all classical music broadcast over public radio. In addition to classical music, public radio is the home for jazz, blues, Americana, folk, roots, soul, bluegrass, and other eclectic genres. Stations like JPR help develop local artists and audiences, educating and enriching our listeners and communities, especially through live performances, studio sessions and interviews.
- It helps support JPR’s emergency alert system that provides access to potentially life-saving information during public emergencies. From wildfires to earthquakes, public radio stations help keep communities safe. The work of our local journalists, combined with our regional partnerships with other public radio stations, allows us to offer live news and information on disasters and other emergencies, providing real-time information on where citizens can access resources and safe locations. This is especially important when the power goes out, and cell networks or the internet go down, as we learned in 2020 during the Almeda and South Obenchain Fires. Radio has proven to be a reliable form of communication during emergencies, and public radio provides essential information services that complement other alert methods offered by public safety agencies.
Like so many stations across the country, JPR has developed deep roots in the communities we serve. Our value is heard every day as we strive to help build healthy, thriving communities grounded by fact-based news, both local and global, and cultural programming that connects us all -- as fellow humans and neighbors.
We encourage you to reach out to your elected representatives to express your view about the important role JPR plays in our region. And, you can stay engaged at this critical time by subscribing to protectmypublicmedia.org.
Thank you for all you do to help JPR succeed.
