The Corp. for the public transmission said on Friday that it was closing, a week after President Trump signed legislation that eliminated his funds.
The measure surprised some public radio and television stations managers throughout the country. Many only had begun to absorb the shock of losing federal support and were quickly discovering ways to keep their stations vibrant.
The Corp. for public transmission manages funds for PBS TV affiliates and NPR radio stations, more than 1,500 local radio and television stations throughout the country.
In a statement, the group said that “an orderly manure of its operations would begin.” Most staff positions will be reduced on September 30, when the group's fiscal year and “a small transition team will remain until January,” he said.
“This reflects the devastating impacts on public transmission,” said Andrew Russell, executive director of PBS Socal. “CPB provides funds to local stations, provides funds for national programming and has played a leadership role in public transmission since its inception. All these are real losses.”
Bert and Ernie in an “Sesame Street” episode of 1976.
(Dieter Klar / DPA / Associated Press)
Since he returned to office, Trump has made a priority to win federal funds of public broadcasters as part of a broader campaign against the media they do not like. The president mocked PBS and NPR as “leftist propaganda” financed by the government. Congress fell online.
Conservatives have wanted to eliminate public media funds due to what they perceive as a liberal bias.
The legislators approved a measure of “termination” in mid -July, largely in the party lines, which canceled $ 1.1 billion previously assigned for public transmission for two years.
“There was no ramp,” said Ken Siebert, general manager of Yellowstone Public Radio in Billings, Mont. “That money had already been appropriate. It was not as if they came and said: 'Ok, you have two more years to discover how you will prepare for this income deficit and these additional expenses.' It was alone, 'no'.”
Separately, legislators introduced a Senate Assignment Law by 2026 that excludes financing for the Corp. for public transmission for the first time in more than 50 years.
The actions left the public transmission group without a constant source of operational money, and few hopes that it would be on their way.
“That seems to have been the height,” said Kliff Kuehl, executive director of Kansas City PBS. Its station is losing $ 1.8 million, or about 13% of its television budget and 9% of its financing for its radio operation. “It's hard.”
Corp. For the Executive Director of the Public Transmission, Patricia Harrison, said in a statement: “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote and asked the Congress to preserve federal funds for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations.”
Fred Rogers, known for generations of PBS spectators such as Mister Rogers, goes to an National Press Club event in Washington in 1993.
(Charles Tasnadi / Associated Press)
The organization dates back to almost 60 years and has helped promote programs as notable as “Sesame Street”, “PBS Newshour”, “Nova”, numerous documentaries of Ken Burns and “Antiques Roadshow”. He also supported the “neighborhood of Mr. Rogers”, distributing the educational program of children who has long helped to fill an important gap in the market. He has fortified NPR programs as “morning edition” and “all things considered.”
Through their associations with local stations and producers, the non -profit organization made the mission of supporting educational and cultural programming, local journalism and emergency communications.
The measure could paralyze smaller public stations, including those of rural areas fighting for high dollar membership campaigns.
“Often, the only local media in some of these really small markets is public transmission,” said Kuehl, who has worked on public transmission for two decades and has seen threats to cut previous funds.
“I would always tell our members of Congress:” Hello, if you do this, you will not get rid of the angels or New York, Chicago, Dallas or Kansas City. You're going to get rid of Smoky Hills, Kansas and Redding, California, “Kuehl said.
Yellowstone Public Radio is losing more than 13% of its budget, or around $ 350,000 a year, money that helped provide a small writing room for its remote listeners base, a huge strip of northern Wyoming and Montana that extend to the Canadian border.
“People tend to think about this as only NPR and PBS, but the heart is about the member stations, the people who live and work in the communities,” Siebert said. “We adapt our programming for the specific arts, culture and educational needs of our listeners: old school programming … news and information, classical music, jazz, bluegrass, blues.”
PBS Socal, which operates the Koce and Kcet member stations in the County of Orange and Los Angeles, respectively, lost more than $ 4 million in federal funds, Russell, president and executive director of the stations, previously told the Times.
“We have had some of our spectators and financiers starting to step forward [with donations]But it will not completely replace that [CPB] Financing, “said Russell.” PBS Socal will continue and the public transmission will last, but the system we have known will be different in the future. “
Tim Russert, from the left, Judy Woodruff, Kate O'Beirne, Chuck Todd and David Gregory in “Meet The Press” of NBC in 2007.
(Alex Wong / Getty images)
NPR has two great affiliates that serve Los Angeles: KCRW-FM (89.9) and Laist/KPCC-FM (89.3).
Laist, based in Pasadena, will lose approximately 4% of its annual budget: $ 1.7 million. Alejandra Santamaria, executive director of the station, told the Times last month that the financing helped pay 13 journalist positions in her writing room.
Kcrw in Santa Monica had waited $ 1.3 million from the Corp. for public transmission.
The stations have asked the listeners to donate to compensate for the deficit. But the station managers told them that they were concerned that the listeners and spectators commitment units may not be enough to maintain the stations and their small long -term writing rooms without financing.
“Even if you do some of these inactive things, there are permanent damage,” Kuehl said, Kansas City's station. “Some of these stations will be sold, others will close.
