House Seeks to Defund CPB

[TheBigA]

Remember, if they offer something of value that appeals to Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and so forth, they will not be want for funding, because people will line up to make donations.

The funding is not based on "want." The republicans who revised the Public Broadcasting Act didn't want to just hand out money to stations that had no local support. The funding is based on service, which is what broadcasting is supposed to do. The money is tied to very specific and narrow things identified in the grant. The stations also get local funding from listeners and local businesses. But the federal money is specified and mandated in the Public Broadcasting Act. That's why they get it. Not because of "want." Keep in mind in some of these cities, the NPR station is among the highest rated stations. So they are doing a good job serving all people regardless of political affiliation.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

But they don't. Which is the reason for the taxpayer pushback. Remember, if they offer something of value that appeals to Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and so forth, they will not be want for funding, because people will line up to make donations. If they don't, then they won't. This is the way broadcasting works.

Republican loving states like Mississippi and albama who most need the CPB money get it, i dont know what their local reporters report on

Plenty of people donate.

and why is it that often times the NPR news station is at the top or very near the top of the ratings in several markets?

 

[Engineering]

NPR is devoted to truth, factual reporting.. which is different than CPB and its funding.

So, CPB is not devoted to truth, factual reporting, and receives taxpayer funding as a result. This is why the taxpayers are objecting to continued funding of public broadcasting, as voiced through their elected representatives.

 

[TheBigA]

So, CPB is not devoted to truth, factual reporting, and receives taxpayer funding as a result.

CPB does not originate any programming. It receives taxpayer funding because of an act of congress.

In 55 years, congress has never denied funding.

About CPB

Steward of the U.S. government's investment in public media

cpb.org

 

[Mikey Radio]

A number of independent organizations have produced "Media Bias Charts". They typically place NPR at the center, sometimes skewing a bit left, and toward the "more trusted" and "fair reporting" end of the spectrum. Naturally when these politicians from the right-wing of the republican party are used to they and their base getting their "news" from Fox News, Newsmax, OANN and right-wing talk, which are shown on the same Media Bias Charts as being "hyper-partisan right" and at the "less trusted" and "contains misinformation" end of the spectrum, when they hear NPR's reporting which tends to be mostly objective and fact-based, to them it probably does sound like left-wing drivel and they want to defund it and try and close it down. That is their perception. That doesn't mean it's accurate or at all based in reality.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Give some examples of grant applications that were turned down by CPB.

Also I don't see this "taxpayer pushback" you're talking about. In the local states, the taxpayers are not protesting their local stations or demanding their governors cut funding. What this is is a handful of republicans on a committee who are objecting at an early stage in the appropriation process. This happens all the time. It happened when the republicans controlled all three parts of the process. Ultimately, when the entire congress voted, the appropriation passed. I'm expecting the same thing will happen this time. The republican governors who run the public broadcasting operations in red states depend on this money.

A lot of this is negotiation. A bunch of stuff that can be backed down on are put on the table so that they can be traded for other concessions.

 

[TheBigA]

A lot of this is negotiation.

Correct. You start at zero, and work your way up. Here's a list of how the CPB appropriation went under Trump. As you can see, they asked for $15 million or $30 million, and they appropriated $445 million. My guess is that $565m request will go down to $475m.

Fiscal Year	Administration Request (a)	Appropriation Received	Interconnection	Digital Conversion	Fiscal Stabilization
2025	$565.00
2024	$475.00	$525.00 (f)
2023	$30.00	$475.00
2022	$30.00	$465.00	$20.00
2021	$30.00	$445.00	$20.00		$175.00
2020	$30.00	$445.00	$20.00		$75.00
2019	$15.00	$445.00	$20.00
2018	$15.00	$445.00	$20.00
2017	$445.00	$445.00	$50.00 (c)	$0.00
2016	$445.00	$445.00	$40.00 (c)

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

So, CPB is not devoted to truth, factual reporting, and receives taxpayer funding as a result. This is why the taxpayers are objecting to continued funding of public broadcasting, as voiced through their elected representatives.

CPB is not involved in programming, they give the funding to those that are... and they get funding based upon, in part.. what people want, inthat... the stations continue to provide a public service.

Tell me, again, why some NPR stations that run all news formats are at the or very near the top of the ratings?

Tell me you think Fox News went woke and watch OANN and News Max without actually telling me any of that.

I've worked in commercial radio for 15+ years and non comm radio for almost 5.... i can truly, honestly say I see the value in public radio. Public radio news, esp. at the local member station level is incredibly in depth, fair, thorough and balanced.

In cases like mine, the station is VITAL to the community and CPB funding being axed completely would shut us down.

 

[Engineering]

CPB is not involved in programming, they give the funding to those that are...

But only 70% if the taxpayer funds they receive. This is according to theor own website. Where does the other 30% go?

 

[itsTheRolyPoly]

CPB is not involved in programming, they give the funding to those that are... and they get funding based upon, in part.. what people want, inthat... the stations continue to provide a public service.

Tell me, again, why some NPR stations that run all news formats are at the or very near the top of the ratings?

Tell me you think Fox News went woke and watch OANN and News Max without actually telling me any of that.

I've worked in commercial radio for 15+ years and non comm radio for almost 5.... i can truly, honestly say I see the value in public radio. Public radio news, esp. at the local member station level is incredibly in depth, fair, thorough and balanced.

In cases like mine, the station is VITAL to the community and CPB funding being axed completely would shut us down.

I wonder who you are because you are amazing. The biggest cheerleader of public broadcasting (just like me) and I support you!

CPB and public broadcasting are definitely needed! It helps stations like KSKO and others out there! We need them!

 

[frankberry]

But only 70% if the taxpayer funds they receive. This is according to theor own website. Where does the other 30% go?

It probably pays the CPB operating expenses.

 

[TheBigA]

But only 70% if the taxpayer funds they receive. This is according to theor own website. Where does the other 30% go?

Here's what the website says:

• More than 70% of CPB’s federal funding goes directly to local public media stations
• Less than 5% of funding is spent on CPB operations

The rest of it goes to independent program producers who apply for grants and must meet certain criteria, same as others who apply for federal grants from other agencies such as HHS and Defense. Once again, it's not full funding for these producers. They must augment the federal money with other sources, and then market those programs to local stations. If the stations don't want the programming, it doesn't get funding. CPB makes a full presentation about this as part of the appropriation process. The congress will know where every dollar goes.

 

[gr8oldies]

Given the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House, there’s a realistic possibility this proposal doesn’t even clear that chamber, let alone die in the senate.

If it’s attached to a spending bill (which might be the only possible path here) it’d be stripped out in any senate reconciliation. Since when do we change arm?

So, CPB is not devoted to truth, factual reporting, and receives taxpayer funding as a result. This is why the taxpayers are objecting to continued funding of public broadcasting, as voiced through their elected representatives.

Because any media source that is not relaying right-wing talking points is unacceptable

 

[TheBigA]

This will go nowhere in the U.S. Senate.

This is what I call "stunt legislation."

The Senate has it's own appropriation process. They are discussing the same budgets there. Ultimately there will be a conference process between the two houses. That will happen in the fall. Everyone will have an opportunity to weigh in.

 

[Nathan Obral]

The rest of it goes to independent program producers who apply for grants and must meet certain criteria, same as others who apply for federal grants from other agencies such as HHS and Defense. Once again, it's not full funding for these producers. They must augment the federal money with other sources, and then market those programs to local stations. If the stations don't want the programming, it doesn't get funding. CPB makes a full presentation about this as part of the appropriation process. The congress will know where every dollar goes.

It might surprise people but NPR isn't the only program syndicator for public radio content: there's American Public Media (Marketplace, The Daily, Performance Today, distribution rights for the BBC World Service), PRX (The World, Living on Earth, The Moth Radio Hour) and WNYC Studios (The New Yorker Radio Hour).

Likewise, American Public Television is another distributor for public television programming alongside PBS (IIRC, WGBH operates APT, and WGBH is one of the most prolific contributor of national programs for PBS).

 

[TheBigA]

It might surprise people but NPR isn't the only program syndicator for public radio content:

A lot of the states have their own public broadcasting services that provide state-wide coverage of news and information. Earlier in this thread I mentioned the Alaska network based in Anchorage. The station gets CPB funding for its operations, and the news service gets CPB funding as well. They use the national interconnection system to distribute the programming among the member stations. All of that would be in jeopardy if the CPB appropriation wasn't funded.

Every year, there are two big concerts that take place on the steps of the capitol. One on Memorial Day, the other on the 4th of July. Those two programs receive direct CPB funding. The programs are produced in collaboration with WETA in DC and distributed by PBS. In that same way, PBS doesn't produce any programs either. They act as a marketer and distributor of programming that is produced at their member stations. The nightly PBS NewsHour is produced at WETA.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I wonder who you are because you are amazing. The biggest cheerleader of public broadcasting (just like me) and I support you!

CPB and public broadcasting are definitely needed! It helps stations like KSKO and others out there! We need them!

Not amazing, just doing a job I believe in.. im all about serving the community and being local.. anyone who knows my 20 year broadcast career can vouch for that. I stand up for what I believe in with facts and first hand knowledge.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

A number of independent organizations have produced "Media Bias Charts". They typically place NPR at the center, sometimes skewing a bit left, and toward the "more trusted" and "fair reporting" end of the spectrum. Naturally when these politicians from the right-wing of the republican party are used to they and their base getting their "news" from Fox News, Newsmax, OANN and right-wing talk, which are shown on the same Media Bias Charts as being "hyper-partisan right" and at the "less trusted" and "contains misinformation" end of the spectrum, when they hear NPR's reporting which tends to be mostly objective and fact-based, to them it probably does sound like left-wing drivel and they want to defund it and try and close it down. That is their perception. That doesn't mean it's accurate or at all based in reality.

I will say this even with 15 plus years in commercial radio with barely 5 in non comm radio, I've never seen news that is more balanced, in depth and fair then i have in public radio. You get more time for one story out of most member stations then commercial stations devote to an entire newscast.

If people only knew the passion held by and some of the hard work done by my co horts in alaska youd be shocked. I can cite examples

when an essential air service contract was awarded for our village to an operator not already serving us, i handed of the story to Robyne at KUAC 89.9 Fairbanks (yes, she goes by one name)... and it took her more then a week to get the story out.

why? Because she wanted to get an interview with the owners of both outfits, incoming and outgoing. .and the outgoing outfit owner was just so busy it was hard to get some time with her.

She held onto the story till it was ready to present both sides.

 

[itsTheRolyPoly]

I will say this even with 15 plus years in commercial radio with barely 5 in non comm radio, I've never seen news that is more balanced, in depth and fair then i have in public radio. You get more time for one story out of most member stations then commercial stations devote to an entire newscast.

If people only knew the passion held by and some of the hard work done by my co horts in alaska youd be shocked. I can cite examples

when an essential air service contract was awarded for our village to an operator not already serving us, i handed of the story to Robyne at KUAC 89.9 Fairbanks (yes, she goes by one name)... and it took her more then a week to get the story out.

why? Because she wanted to get an interview with the owners of both outfits, incoming and outgoing. .and the outgoing outfit owner was just so busy it was hard to get some time with her.

She held onto the story till it was ready to present both sides.

I've always trusted public radio more anyways, especially since I first started listening in 2016. Public radio just does things differently.

Hell, I even post links to news about public media on my public media-related Twitter all the time: @PubMediaFans

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

I will say this even with 15 plus years in commercial radio with barely 5 in non comm radio, I've never seen news that is more balanced, in depth and fair then i have in public radio. You get more time for one story out of most member stations then commercial stations devote to an entire newscast.

After I was "wished well in all his future endeavors" at the last commercial station I worked for, I tried for a gig at the local public radio outlet. A friend who worked there gave me a tour, and I got to sit in on one of their locally produced shows. Most of the folks I'd worked with who had "News Director" in their job title were nothing more than "the person who got the news off the wire and read it on the air twice an hour."

This place had a fully-staffed news room that rivaled that of the major market full-service station I'd toured as a college student 35 years prior. I'd been a morning producer, host, music director, prod director, etc. but these people were doing journalism. I had a pretty good interview, but I was way out of my league.