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CPB to cease operations
- Thread starter DaveBayArea
- Start date
The nations in the "Free World" that have major government broadcasting are mostly those that did not even allow private stations until the 70's or later; most of those are in Europe or were British and French colonies. But even in European nations like Spain and Portugal, private radio has long existed and is dominant to the point of making government stations an afterthought.
In most of our hemisphere, public broadcasting is minimal or does not even exist. Mexico has no government national radio network, although it supports a number of indigenous language rural stations. Most of Central America has no national radio and TV service, and where it does exist it is mostly a voice for legislative assembly broadcasts and government agency shows.
South America has little or no government broadcasting. Where it exists, it is limited.
Only Cuba and Nicaragua and Venezuela operate significant or totally monopolistic radio and TV services.
Remember that neither NPR nor PBS are "government broadcasting." They are each independent companies, with employees who work for the company, not the government. The vast majority of their funding comes from private sources. The government funds CPB, but even they are independent. Very different from the BBC. Our system was set up this way to avoid government-controlled propaganda. Just because a company receives government money doesn't make it government broadcasting. There are many farms in this country that receive government money, and none of them are government farms.
Yesterday, WHYY's Studio 2 had on a Republican guest who argued that the government owning the means of production -- the textbook definition of socialism -- is fine as long as Trump is doing it for "national security":
Libertarian, Republican debate Trump's economic policies - WHYY
The GOP used to be synonymous with unfettered free markets, but some of President Trump’s recent decisions – like the government taking a 10% stake in computer chip company Intel – have some Republicans saying it's a step towards socialism.
whyy.org
That's exactly the reason given by socialist countries.
But this is why the government doesn't own NPR or PBS or any local radio or TV stations. The government provided a subsidy, but had no ownership or control. That's what infuriated the president. Even though the government owned VOA, it was set up to operate independently. That's why Kari Lake shut it down. She wanted it to be run by the white house. The charter doesn't allow that.
The government previously funded the National Endowment for the Arts. This was a very similar organization to CPB. It received a congressional appropriation, which it distributed to various arts organizations and symphony orchestras. None of them are "government orchestras."
americanorchestras.org
That funding is being rescinded:
www.pittsburghartscouncil.org
NEA Funding - americanorchestras.org
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes creativity and public access to the arts in communities across the country through direct grants to arts organizations, state funding partnerships, and national initiatives.
americanorchestras.org
That funding is being rescinded:
Trump’s Impact on the Arts: A Running List of Updates
WPSU-FM & TV, the public broadcasting stations of Penn State University, have announced they will be shutting down in June. The university reports that the stations are operating at a loss, and have also lost almost $2 million in CPB funding. There was an offer by Philadelphia's WHYY to take over the station. But it required some money from the university to cover the 44 employees.
radioinsight.com
A similar situation is happening at Baylor University's KWBU:
www.insideradio.com
Here's the problem: The intent of the public broadcasting act was to professionalize non-commercial radio. In order to do that, CPB created staffing and budget mandates a station had to have in order to qualify for federal funding. The funding didn't apply to 100-watt student stations or LPFMs. So these stations had professional staff. Now that CPB funding has been cut. So the stations are stuck with mandated staffing expense and no way to pay for it. They're between a rock and a hard place. That's what's causing this crisis at small market public stations.
WHYY Philadelphia To Purchase WPSU State College Preventing Station Shutdown
Penn State University's Board of Trustees Finance and Investment Committee voted today to wind down operations of Public News/Talk/Classical 91.5 WPSU-FM State College PA and PBS affiliate WPSU-TV by June 30, 2026 after rejecting a proposal to subsidize a transfer of the licenses to WHYY...
radioinsight.com
A similar situation is happening at Baylor University's KWBU:
Waco’s KWBU Faces Funding Crisis, Could Go Silent By Year’s End.
Public radio station KWBU-FM in Waco is fighting for survival after losing nearly a third of its $1.2 million budget. With Baylor University and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting both
Here's the problem: The intent of the public broadcasting act was to professionalize non-commercial radio. In order to do that, CPB created staffing and budget mandates a station had to have in order to qualify for federal funding. The funding didn't apply to 100-watt student stations or LPFMs. So these stations had professional staff. Now that CPB funding has been cut. So the stations are stuck with mandated staffing expense and no way to pay for it. They're between a rock and a hard place. That's what's causing this crisis at small market public stations.
But in some states like South Carolina the affiliates are state owned.
Yes and no. While it is true that the UK, for example, didn't allow private radio stations to legally enter the market until the early 1970s, it never used its public radio service, the BBC, to dampen debate in the same way that, say, China, Moscow, and Havana did. In fact, even today, despite recent budget cuts to the BBC due to lackluster radio sales (it is a tax on purchased radios that funds the service), the British broadcaster continues to receive high praise from journalists the world over for its journalism. In recent memory, the only story that I know of where the British broadcaster had to do major censoring had to do with how Sein Thane (not sure of spelling) was portrayed prior to the northern Ireland peace agreement. Specifically, the government of Margaret Thatcher forbid the British broadcaster from putting the voice of the Sin Thane leader on the air for fear that it would increase terrorism. In response, the BBC hired actors to read any statements this person made.
With regard to Mexico, while it is true that there is no national broadcaster, some of the individual states do have state-supported radio networks that are primarily intended to reach listeners in areas where there are few other radio services. Sonora is the first Mexican state that comes to mind in this regard.
NY Times has an article (behind a paywall) about how stations are dealing with the loss of CPB funding:
As I said earlier, if the stations feel the programming costs are too high, they have the power to get NPR to lower them.
As I said earlier, if the stations feel the programming costs are too high, they have the power to get NPR to lower them.
Not so. The UK has an annual "TV tax" that covers the radios and TV sets in each household. It is paid over and over every year, and not based on how many radios or TVs you buy.
Google AI says, The UK has a TV Licence, which costs £174.50 for a color TV or £58.50 for a black and white TV as of 2025, and pays for the BBC's services, including its TV channels, radio, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC website. You need a TV Licence for your household if you watch or record live TV on any TV service or streaming service, or use BBC iPlayer on any device. The fee applies per household and funds BBC services, ensuring they are free of advertising
What moved the Beeb to relax its opposition to private broadcasters in the U.K. was the profusion of pirate stations on ships, old fortresses and the like in the 60's. At one point, those stations, with inferior signals in the big cities, dominated listening. And even before that, night listening at least in SE England to Radio Luxembourg, was astoundingly high.
And many of those stations are in one or more of the over 100 indigenous languages and dialects in Mexico. This is a case of audiences that advertisers would not spend money to reach due to the high cost of creating ads in so many languages and the low incomes of the potential rural consumers. So the government, state and national, has provided services.
it’s spelled S i n n F é i n but pronounced “Shin Fane” (rhymes with “pane”). This is a good article summarizing what happened:
‘Counterproductive and silly’: 30 years since the end of the bizarre Irish political voice ban
A new film looks at the restriction of broadcasting on named political groups in Northern Ireland – and the actors and comedians who benefited
It's time to be strong.
CPB says they are winding down operations, but not totally dissolving. They will continue to exist, although with minimal operating funds:
current.org
Of course, legally they still would exist, since congress didn't repeal the public broadcasting act.
How CPB could scale back and maintain its nonprofit status
Experts see advantages in preserving a bare-bones operation, which isn’t “particularly onerous.”
current.org
Of course, legally they still would exist, since congress didn't repeal the public broadcasting act.
Talk about exploiting a loophole.
We all know that to properly "shut down" CPB, an act of Congress to repeal the Public Broadcasting Act is required. However, nobody said anything about simply stripping CPB of virtually all funds to functionally do the same. Nor are there any ways of preventing it, it seems, because it in fact happened.
So, this administration's going to strip the better parts of the government down to almost nothing and hoard all the newly released funds for its own priorities, but "officially" everything will basically be unchanged on paper. Interesting sleight of hand, eh?
c
We all know that to properly "shut down" CPB, an act of Congress to repeal the Public Broadcasting Act is required. However, nobody said anything about simply stripping CPB of virtually all funds to functionally do the same. Nor are there any ways of preventing it, it seems, because it in fact happened.
So, this administration's going to strip the better parts of the government down to almost nothing and hoard all the newly released funds for its own priorities, but "officially" everything will basically be unchanged on paper. Interesting sleight of hand, eh?
c
Not "everything." The loss of the money to local stations is real, and the people getting fired is real, and the stations shutting down is real.
The part of it that affects the public and affects some state governments is all very real. No sleight of hand there.
But CPB continues as an entity, which is why the president is suing to fire its board members. He wants to control the carcass, which is something the law is supposed to prevent him from doing.
NPR News reported that it's CEO told the board they will cut $5 million next year. They don't expect layoffs or cutbacks as a result:
This is an Inside Radio re-write attributing NPR's original story
www.insideradio.com
This is an Inside Radio re-write attributing NPR's original story
NPR Slashes $5M As Federal Support Ends.
NPR plans to trim more than $5 million from its budget in the next fiscal year, aiming to maintain a balanced $300 million budget as it braces for financial uncertainty
Boulder-Denver station KGNU, which isn’t an NPR member station, is having to find ways of dealing with the loss of $155,000 of CPB funding…15% of its budget. The following is from Rocky Mountain PBS (H/T Inside the News in Colorado by Corey Hutchins):
www.rmpbs.org
Boulder’s KGNU battens down the hatches after federal funding cuts | Rocky Mountain PBS
In a world of online streaming and AI playlists, KGNU provides “human curation.”
Boulder-Denver station KGNU, which isn’t an NPR member station, is having to find ways of dealing with the loss of $155,000 of CPB funding…15% of its budget. The following is from Rocky Mountain PBS (H/T Inside the News in Colorado by Corey Hutchins):
Boulder’s KGNU battens down the hatches after federal funding cuts | Rocky Mountain PBS
In a world of online streaming and AI playlists, KGNU provides “human curation.”
I'm wondering if, as a short-term budget fix, KGNU is looking to sell KGNU-AM in Denver.
I doubt it. They do a very cool think with that AM. It has what is technically a fill-in translator on 88.5. But 88.5 is also the frequency of their FM station in Boulder. So the two simulcasted signals on 88.5 cover the market quite well. At least that was my experience when I was there. @Mark Roberts can probably shed more light on that.
Dave B.