The following is a letter to listeners from KVPR President and General Manager Joe Moore:
After a raucous House DOGE subcommittee hearing where chair Marjorie Taylor Greene called NPR and PBS stations “Anti-American” and “Communist,” the White House is reportedly moving forward with President Trump's pledge to defund America’s public radio and television stations.
Beginning on April 14, multiple media reports have indicated that the Trump administration is preparing to use a procedure known as “rescission” to request Congress repeal existing funding for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This proposed new action represents a real threat to KVPR and all public broadcasting outlets. Once the memo is formally introduced to Congress, a vote on this request could happen at any time in the following 45 days.
What would this mean for KVPR?
KVPR receives around $175,000 a year in the form of a community service grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That represents about 7 percent of our budget. The remaining 93 percent of station funding comes from private sources, including individual members, private foundations, corporate sponsors and fundraising events. Some stations in rural areas are more dependent on CPB funding. CPB also provides funding for the satellite system that connects stations, as well as for music rights and licensing agreements for stations. All of this funding is at risk.
What would happen to KVPR if federal funding is repealed?
The loss of this funding would have a devastating impact on KVPR’s local broadcast service. To be clear, KVPR would NOT go off-the-air, or go out of business with the loss of federal funding. However, the cuts would significantly degrade KVPR's service to the community. If Congress approves a rescission of CPB funding, KVPR would face a mix of the following:
- Cuts to KVPR's local programming, music and journalism
- Changes to or elimination of national programs from NPR or other distributors
- Increased costs for broadcast and digital distribution technology
- Increased reliance on individual donations to support core station operating expenses
The future of public media is in your hands
As we face the potential imminent loss of federal funding, KVPR needs your help. The future of public media is in your hands. Fortunately, there are three things you can do today to help preserve and protect the public radio and television system we have today:
- Sign up at ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to get updates on what's happening and to learn how you can contact your representatives to share your thoughts on public broadcasting funding.
- Donate to KVPR.
- Tell your friends and family about the threat to public media and let them know how they can help.
We need public radio for moments like this
Critics of public media rightly point out that we live in a very different world than the one of 1967, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the law that created public broadcasting. They claim that America no longer needs the services of NPR and PBS when millions of social media influencers, podcasters and vloggers and churn out endless streams of content. However, these critics can’t see the forest for the trees.
We need public media precisely because of these changes in our landscape. Across the country and here in the Valley, local news is in crisis. Our media landscape is flooded by individuals and outlets peddling misinformation and disinformation. The technological innovations hailed by Silicon Valley have not led Americans to be more informed or more engaged in their government and their communities, but rather less so.
In a landscape where a handful of billionaires control America’s dominant commercial media outlets and platforms, can we trust them to put their interests aside in pursuit of accurate coverage? When hedge funds have gobbled up the remaining newspapers, who will be left to hold local officials accountable? Will AI, with its tendency to “hallucinate” and make up facts, really look out for the public interest? We need the trusted coverage of public radio for moments just like this. Our democracy needs the editorial values of accuracy, honesty, fairness, integrity, transparency, accountability and respect, which lie at the core of the NPR's editorial guidelines.
Why should stations receive funding anyway?
Calls to end federal support for public media are not new. However, lawmakers of both parties, and presidents from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden have all approved funding for public broadcasting through the budgetary process. There is bipartisan support for local public media funding on Capitol Hill, and a new survey from Pew Research shows only 24 percent of Americans support defunding public media. Pew's survey indicates that only 44 percent of Republicans actually favor defunding. Still, public media has its critics. I’ll be the first to admit that our system and our stations aren’t perfect. However, there are strong arguments in favor of public funding that often go overlooked:
1) The free market doesn’t always serve all public needs and interests. The non-profit sector exists to fill the gaps that are left where for-profit enterprises simply can’t. From local and national news with depth and substance to classical music, KVPR serves listeners with a distinct service that is available to all for free, with no paywall.
2) Public media stations serve 99 percent of Americans, even areas that are otherwise news deserts. Stations like KVPR are the backbone of America’s emergency alert warning system, and provide critical coverage that saves lives in emergencies and natural disasters.
3) Many critics say stations should survive without public support, just like commercial broadcasters. They forget that public media stations like KVPR are non-profit broadcast licensees, and are prohibited by the federal law from selling advertising, which is the business model that supports all commercial broadcast stations.
For 47 years, KVPR has served the residents of Central California with voices and sounds that inform and inspire. WE AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE. But we need your help. This is a critical moment for KVPR and our entire public media system. Speak out and let your representatives in Congress know how you feel. Let your friends, associates and family know how they can advocate for public broadcasting. And help protect KVPR’s service with a gift of support now at KVPR.org/donate.
