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Recent press accounts and government actions have called into question whether federal support for public media will continue. We鈥檇 like to share with you information about this issue and how elimination of federal funding would impact JPR鈥檚 service to the region.

In the news ...

• April 1, 2025 | President Trump posted on social media platforms in all caps: "REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT 'MONSTERS' THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!"

• March 26, 2025 | The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing titled 鈥淎nti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.鈥� At the hearing, Katherine Maher, the Chief Executive Officer and President of National Public Radio (NPR), and Paula Kerger, Chief Executive Officer and President for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), testified about the importance of federal funding for public media and answered questions from members of the House. Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) concluded in her closing statement: 鈥淎fter listening to what we鈥檝e heard today, we will be calling for the complete and total defund and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.鈥�

• January 29, 2025 | FCC Chair Brendan Carr announced an investigation into the practice of NPR and PBS stations airing underwriting announcements, suggesting that these short announcements identifying program funders might be breaking FCC rules. In his letter announcing the investigation, Carr wrote, 鈥溾�� I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.鈥�

How federal funding works ...

• Funding for our nation鈥檚 public media system is authorized by statute through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 with the goal of facilitating the growth and development of public radio and television and making it available to all Americans.

• Funding levels for CPB are determined in the federal budget process approved by Congress and signed by the President. Also by statute, 89% of CPB鈥檚 annual appropriation must be distributed to local stations through programming and operational grants with no more than 5% allowed to cover CPB鈥檚 overhead expenses.

• Federal funding for public broadcasting currently totals $535 million per year, an amount that equals approximately $1.60 per American annually. Of this amount approximately .40 per citizen supports public radio annually.

• CPB provides very little funding to NPR, or any other national program producer, with the vast majority of its funds going to more than 1,500 local public television and radio stations like JPR. CPB administers grants, evaluates station effectiveness and ensures accountability to Congress and the President.

• Approximately 40% of CPB grantees are considered rural, based on population density. In recent years, which face unique challenges and higher costs than urban stations because they often operate multiple transmitters and translators in order to reach remote sparsely populated areas. A reduction or elimination of funding for CPB would have the most negative impact on stations serving rural communities, like JPR.

• CPB is a very small federally funded program amounting to .008% of the overall federal budget and works on a public-private partnership model. The funding CPB provides to stations leverages over $6 in privately raised funds for every $1 of federal support.

Impact on JPR ...

Approximately 14% of JPR鈥檚 annual revenue comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting鈥攁n amount totaling $525,521 in our current fiscal year. This funding provides a foundation of support that helps us serve the mostly rural communities in our listening area with local fact-based news, national and global news from NPR, music not provided by commercial radio and emergency alerts. If the federal government were to eliminate funding for public media, JPR would immediately need to raise over half a million dollars per year to replace this funding or identify spending cuts to offset the loss of funds.

What you can do ...

While the future of federal funding for JPR may be uncertain, we do know that listener support is, and will remain, the essential ingredient that gives life to our service to the region. , now and in the year ahead.

Stay Engaged ...

is an online platform dedicated to protecting local public television and radio stations. Its website has many suggestions for how individuals can organize to protect public media funding and advocate when the time is right -- subscribe at .