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Trump to PBS and NPR: I’m cutting you off…

So taxpayers are expected to help foot the bill to continue to support technologies/mediums that the public itself has chosen to move on from (as have apparently many posters on this "radio" board, too, who've been quick to post that broadcasting's glory days are over due to other available options, etc.)? With that logic, government/taxpayers would be funding the Model T in this day and age. :D

Regardless of the public spectrum, I'm not sure the "very obvious place for government" is to use taxpayer funds to prop up declining usage of a technology/medium that the public has consciously chosen other options in increasing numbers. (Believe me, I'm no fan of the blind rush to streaming, but the public is speaking pretty loudly in terms of its preference.)
 
Gravel Switch said:
So taxpayers are expected to help foot the bill to continue to support technologies/mediums that the public itself has chosen to move on from
Click to expand...

It's up to congress to decide. That's how our system works. Right now they're debating a mandate for AM in cars.

www.insideradio.com

Bipartisan Momentum Builds Behind AM Radio In Cars Bill.

The August recess is over for members of Congress, and the National Association of Broadcasters says it led to a “groundswell” of momentum for a bill that will make AM
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
 
TheBigA said:
It's up to congress to decide. That's how our system works. Right now they're debating a mandate for AM in cars.

www.insideradio.com

Bipartisan Momentum Builds Behind AM Radio In Cars Bill.

The August recess is over for members of Congress, and the National Association of Broadcasters says it led to a “groundswell” of momentum for a bill that will make AM
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
Click to expand...
... a mandate which I disagree with. What's next? -- mandating AM radios in homes? Me thinks if AM wasn't a bastion of conservative talkers, there wouldn't be a GOP push along these lines .....

During my seven years in the legislative branch, a lot of these things would've been laughed off the House and Senate floor.
 
only1moore said:
Looks like Stitt is desperate to pull the plug on OETA. Guess he doesn’t like Lawrence Welk repeats...
Click to expand...
It's not even that, he tried to do that in 2022–2023 and failed miserably.

I just have to feel bad for the children of Oklahoma, who are about to lose educational programming.
 
WEIU-TV at Eastern Illinois University, which disaffiliated with PBS last October, has now gone silent altogether. In today's STA filing, the university states:

Due to the loss of federal funding for public broadcasting, the University has decided to cease over-the-air broadcasting at this time. Therefore, the University respectfully requests special temporary authority for the station to be off the air. The University will provide a status update if and when it submits a request for extension of the STA herein requested.

Background available through a link on post #198: Trump to PBS and NPR: I’m cutting you off… (I thought more had been posted about it at the time, but I'm not finding much other than this post)

Edit to add: this article from WCIA in Champaign implies that the station is unlikely to return to the air, instead becoming a streaming-only operation focused on news : https://www.wcia.com/coles-county/weiu-ends-broadcasting-on-air-after-decades/

Additional from E&P: WEIU-TV leaves airwaves after loss of federal funding - Editor and Publisher
 
Any of these states that defund public broadcasting should sell the stations to their private foundations. They all have outside foundations that could easily take over operations. The people want PBS even if their elected governments don't.

But once the state gets out, they lose any say in what the stations broadcast. So now that the state isn't funding Oklahoma PTV, they should be able to air anything they want.
 
TheBigA said:
But once the state gets out, they lose any say in what the stations broadcast. So now that the state isn't funding Oklahoma PTV, they should be able to air anything they want.
Click to expand...
That's true. But they don't quit. The expected outcome from the loss of state funding was the public TV network to shrivel up and die for those who supported ending the support. When it doesn't do that, the MAGA crowd will scream "Why is it still on the air?" Because all they knew/heard was the Oklahoma congress stopped funding and they expected OPTV to literally go off the air. And this being a midterm year, these politicians are trying to score even phyrric points with their bases. So put nothing past them. It could be a sudden violation of something. Or if the broadcast towers are on state property. Whatever it takes to make it miserable, if not unsustainable for OPTV.
 
Bongwater said:
That's true. But they don't quit. The expected outcome from the loss of state funding was the public TV network to shrivel up and die for those who supported ending the support. When it doesn't do that, the MAGA crowd will scream "Why is it still on the air?" Because all they knew/heard was the Oklahoma congress stopped funding and they expected OPTV to literally go off the air. And this being a midterm year, these politicians are trying to score even phyrric points with their bases. So put nothing past them. It could be a sudden violation of something. Or if the broadcast towers are on state property. Whatever it takes to make it miserable, if not unsustainable for OPTV.
Click to expand...
That's true too and its not shocking in the event Chairman Carr starts "Investigating" the licenses of local PBS affiliates more specifically WETA-TV, WGBH-TV and KQED-TV especially when PBS Newshour and PBS Frontline has more investigative stories on the White House. Plus even if OETA, Arkansas TV goes off the air there will be a group of dedicated viewers demanding that they get access to PBS content via donations to WETA, WGBH and KQED since Arkansas and Oklahoma keeps threatening to defund their public media outlets. Yes that long running outdated idea of making one of these three PBS affiliates get a superstation status is an odd one given that we are in the TV apps era and Public broadcasting was meant to put more attention to having better access to local non profit journalism on radio and TV.
 
Bongwater said:
Because all they knew/heard was the Oklahoma congress stopped funding and they expected OPTV to literally go off the air.
Click to expand...

Actually the Oklahoma congress funded it. It was the governor who shut it down. They don't have enough votes to override the veto.

If the state government wants to shut these stations down, there's an FCC procedure for doing it. They'll put a lot of Oklahoma taxpayers out of work.
 
TheBigA said:
Actually the Oklahoma congress funded it. It was the governor who shut it down. They don't have enough votes to override the veto.

If the state government wants to shut these stations down, there's an FCC procedure for doing it. They'll put a lot of Oklahoma taxpayers out of work.
Click to expand...
Chances are the MAGA types who support this shutdown don't know, and don't want to know, people who work for those stations. They'd prefer they lose their jobs and leave Oklahoma for some blue state.
 
CTListener said:
Chances are the MAGA types who support this shutdown don't know, and don't want to know, people who work for those stations. They'd prefer they lose their jobs and leave Oklahoma for some blue state.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter. If these stations shut down, they have 30 days to notify the FCC. The state owns the stations, the licenses, the contracts, and are liable to follow all the applicable laws. That means the licensee needs to present a plan to the legislature for how they plan to handle this. If it goes the way of Arkansas, they might be surprised at their liability.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
That's true too and its not shocking in the event Chairman Carr starts "Investigating" the licenses of local PBS affiliates more specifically WETA-TV, WGBH-TV and KQED-TV especially when PBS Newshour and PBS Frontline has more investigative stories on the White House. Plus even if OETA, Arkansas TV goes off the air there will be a group of dedicated viewers demanding that they get access to PBS content via donations to WETA, WGBH and KQED since Arkansas and Oklahoma keeps threatening to defund their public media outlets. Yes that long running outdated idea of making one of these three PBS affiliates get a superstation status is an odd one given that we are in the TV apps era and Public broadcasting was meant to put more attention to having better access to local non profit journalism on radio and TV.
Click to expand...
OETA is in Oklahoma, not Arkansas. People are free to donate to whatever public tv or radio stations they want. There aren't going to be a bunch of Oklahomans suddenly donating to KQED-TV now.
 
radiofan2023 said:
OETA is in Oklahoma, not Arkansas. People are free to donate to whatever public tv or radio stations they want. There aren't going to be a bunch of Oklahomans suddenly donating to KQED-TV now.
Click to expand...
That's true too given the situation now. Its that whenever we hear about statewide PBS and NPR affiliates being defunded in some parts of the country its always an example on who knows where this is going given that there are less alternate affiliates those donors and viewers are going.

But when we hear about New Jersey PBS being defunded its different because WNET-TV New York and WHYY-TV Philadelphia cover the state of New Jersey via donations, cable and OTA.
 


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