The Defunding of Public Media Is Hitting Local Stations Hardest

The decision to end federal funding for public media in the United States already has local stations reeling.

Back in July, Republicans in Congress ignored the needs of their own constituents when they approved President Trump’s demand to claw back already-approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The first casualty of this decision was the CPB itself, which on Aug. 1 announced that it would need to shut down by the end of the year. “The elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is about trying to end accountability, pump out propaganda, and sow the kind of chaos and disinformation under which authoritarianism thrives,” said Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron.

In the aftermath of Congress’ decision, PBS cut 15 percent of its workforce and trimmed its budget by 21 percent. While it’s reducing the dues required from member stations to help ease the financial burden on those newsrooms, this has forced it to make other tough choices — like putting its award-winning documentary series American Experience on hiatus. Meanwhile, NPR — which already reduced its staff by 10 percent back in 2023 — is cutting $5 million from its budget.

And local stations of all sizes have announced that they will need to lay off staff, reduce programming — and in some cases, close.

Local losses

A New York Times analysis found that 245 stations in rural communities were at risk of closure. That’s because rural stations were far more dependent on CPB funding than many urban stations, which often have a far greater range of underwriters and larger donor pools.

Rural stations have long served as a lifeline for local communities. At a time when media consolidation has decimated local news, public-media stations are often the only source of local journalism. These stations also provide crucial emergency warning services — an absolute necessity as the climate crisis has worsened.

Soon after Congress defunded public media, Alex Curley of Semipublic launched Adopt a Station, which allows people to donate to stations that are most in need. The site shows how much each station lost as a result of the vote to rescind funding for public media. The range is stark: New York City’s WNYC, for example, lost 4 percent of its overall funding while KLND in McLaughlin, South Dakota — which serves the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Nations — lost 50 percent. KSHI on the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico lost a whopping 96 percent.

Semipublic is also tracking the number of layoffs instituted as a result of the rescission vote. As of Oct. 23, 423 public-media jobs across the country have been slashed — a figure that will inevitably rise. Alabama Public Television cut 13 percent of its staff. Vermont Public — the state’s only public-media outlet — cut 14 percent of its workforce. WKU Public Media in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is eliminating a third of its staff. These are just a few examples; there are many more.

And even some of the most established public-media stations have had to make hard choices. San Francisco-based KQED is cutting its workforce by 15 percent and leaving 10 vacant positions unfilled. KCRW, Southern California’s flagship station, is reducing its staff by 10 percent. And Boston-based GBH is cutting 6 percent of its workforce. GBH is the nation’s largest public-media producer and is behind popular programs like Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Masterpiece and NOVA.

At least two closures have already been announced. KWSU-TV, based at Washington State University, will close by the end of 2025. The station is one of the oldest public-media stations in the Pacific Northwest.

NJ PBS, New Jersey’s only dedicated public-television station, will shut down in the summer of 2026. The end of federal support was a death knell for this station, which also saw its state appropriation slashed by 75 percent in 2025.

Penn State-based WPSU, which has been around for 60 years, nearly met the same fate. In September, Penn State announced plans to close the station, but in October, WHYY — the home of Fresh Air — reached an agreement with the university to assume control of the outlet. The plan, which requires the approval of the FCC and WHYY’s board, would allow WHYY to manage WPSU for at least three years.

Other stations have had to slash their programming. The Seattle-based Cascade PBS, which is laying off 17 staffers, is ending production of its long-form journalism. Mississippi Public Broadcasting will need to eliminate all programming from NPR, PBS and PBS Kids by summer 2026 — and will instead focus on local news and weather alerts. Many other stations have also announced plans to scale back.

Efforts to help struggling stations

Besides Adopt a Station, there are numerous other efforts designed to help stations stay afloat. NPR is offering $8 million in relief to the hardest-hit stations while the MacArthur Foundation and other philanthropic organizations committed to donating $36.5 million to help outlets at risk of closure.

New Mexico made an emergency allocation of $5.9 million to support local stations — many of which drew a majority of their funding from the CPB. In Michigan, State Rep. Jason Morgan introduced the SAVE ELMO Act, which would provide grants of up to $1.5 million per public-media station in the state.

WNYC launched the Station-to-Station Programming Project, which will give stations free access to its programs — which include The New Yorker Radio Hour and On the Media — if they received at least 10 percent of their funding from the CPB. This project launched on Oct. 1 and will run for one year.

Meanwhile, 30 Bob Ross paintings will be auctioned to help stations pay their licensing fees to the TV channel Create, a hub for DIY-centered programming like America’s Test Kitchen and This Old House.

All of these efforts are laudable, but they can’t replace what was lost when the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress defunded public media. And while this is a devastating loss, this crisis also gives us the opportunity to create a new public-media system that’s grounded in community, committed to local newsgathering and freed from partisan meddling. It will take years of organizing to build this kind of system — and this work could not be more urgent.

“This won’t be about gluing together the shattered pieces of what we used to have,” said Craig Aaron. “The urgent task is to build a public-media system capable of resisting autocracy and restoring democracy.”

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