As the Trump administration’s plan to cut federal funding to public radio and television appears poised to come to fruition, local public media outlets like The Public’s Radio & Rhode Island PBS are assessing next steps.
Congress this week approved a plan to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sending it to President Trump’s desk. The historic cut will have huge ripple effects for all public media stations.
Morning Host Luis Hernandez spoke with Pam Johnston, president and CEO of The Public’s Radio & Rhode Island PBS, about what the cuts at the federal level will mean for public media in the Ocean State.
Interview Highlights
On how cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will affect The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS
Pam Johnston: This is a devastating loss. It’s a devastating loss here in Rhode Island. We will lose approximately $1.1 million annually for our operating budget. That’s about 10% of our budget. That’s a serious hit, and that’s going to take effect in October. … The [CPB funding] shows up all over our operations. That’s what makes it so devastating. This pays for our journalists that you hear on the radio day in and day out. It pays for our infrastructure, our programming, our educational resources. It keeps the lights on. This is the money that actually powers our business.
On whether the cuts could force national producers like NPR and PBS to cancel shows or make other similar changes
Johnston: I’m not being evasive when I say we don’t know yet. Here’s what I do know: the way in which public media as a system is funded is complex and intertwined.
We at your local public stations, we receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — that’s what was cut. We all receive a different amount of money depending on the size in the market. That money goes away. From that money though, we send fees up to PBS and NPR, and they create programming. And that’s the way the ecosystem works: the money comes from CPB to stations, and then stations give a portion of their dollars to the networks to create programming. Everything’s going to be reduced all across the board.
Here’s what I believe, and here’s what I’ve been told, and here’s what you’ll hear from the CEOs of both PBS and NPR: The tentpole programming that you love and listen to and engage with, whether it be Morning Edition, or All Things Considered, or PBS Newshour and Frontline — those shows will continue. Those are the tentpoles, those are the bedrocks, and those will be the last to go. But let’s not fool ourselves in this moment — everything’s at threat, and those decisions are coming at us in new ways. So everything’s not okay, but those tentpole shows will be the last to go, and we hope they won’t ever go.
On next steps for The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS
Johnston: In this moment of crisis and, for some, despair, what often happens — and which is such a Rhode Island trait and an American trait — is that man, do we rise to a challenge?
And our last few pledge drives here on The Public’s Radio and at Rhode Island PBS have been our most successful ever. Because what we’re hearing from our community and our audience is ‘We love you. We think you’re important. You add value to our community, and we want you to stay.’
We’re going to continue to have to ask those questions and to ask more people to stand with us and give more as we go on. If you want these programs that you love and the resources that we provide to continue, we’re going to need our members, our neighbors, our friends, our community to help us out.
