Some Republicans want to reverse GOP cuts to rural and tribal radio stations
Sens. Mike Rounds and Dan Sullivan are pushing to keep federal funds flowing to Native stations.
One of the stations thats affected to the funding of the rural and tribal stations is located in Alaska in this example.
Some Republicans Want to Reverse the GOP Cuts to Rural and Tribal Radio Stations
After the GOP-controlled Congress slashed public broadcasting funds, some Republican lawmakers say they’re working to secure money to keep vital tribal and rural stations on the air.
Desiree Hagen, KOTZ’s news director — who says she’s the only reporter above the Arctic Circle in the United States — told NOTUS the tribal station is “super crucial,” giving information to locals that could mean life or death, like search-and-rescue alerts, warnings on where ice is thin and critical weather updates — as well as community information, like which high school student may have made the winning shot at a local basketball game.
Without federal funding, Hagen expects the station would be “just like an automated transmission with nobody working here.”
“Probably no news, no local content,” she said. “We would have to hustle a lot. We would have to spend the hours that we’re struggling to keep ourselves on air already devoted to trying to find these extra funding mechanisms.”