Searching for pennies: With the cut in federal funding public broadcasters are looking to cope

ANCHORAGE Alaska AP Lauren Adams general manager for KUCB society radio in Unalaska Alaska didn t have much time to reflect on Congress miles away stripping federal funding for constituents media this week She s been too busy working Sirens blared in the Aleutian Islands society Wednesday warning of a feasible tsunami with a voice over community loudspeakers urging the area s residents to seek higher ground at once and tune into the radio to Adams station At the same time in Washington the Senate was voting on a measure that would eliminate nearly billion that had already been appropriated for NPR and PBS a process that didn t end until early Thursday morning The House is expected to complete the process in time for President Donald Trump to sign it before a Friday deadline Trump had called for the cuts saying citizens media s news activities was biased against him and fellow Republicans and threatened GOP members of Congress with primary challenges if they didn t fall in line Adams her news director a reporter and an intern kept broadcasting and updating KUCB s social media feed until the danger passed Then she made time for one more task texting U S Sen Lisa Murkowski and urging her to vote against the bill Murkowski was one of two Republican senators along with Susan Collins of Maine to publicly dissent I thought that it was such a telling story of why her constituents have a different relationship to residents radio than maybe particular other regions of the United States Adams noted Hard decisions ahead for stations across the country The federal money is appropriated to the Corporation for Populace Broadcasting which distributes it to NPR and PBS Roughly of the money goes directly to the PBS and NPR stations across the country although that s only a shorthand way to describe its prospective impact The cuts are expected to weigh largest part heavily on smaller masses media outlets away from big cities and it s likely selected won t survive Katherine Maher NPR s president and CEO estimated as multiple as NPR stations may face closure in the next year Certain stations are already fielding offers from commercial entities to buy their broadcast licenses she disclosed A multitude of of our stations which provide access to free unique local offerings and exigency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead explained Paula Kerger PBS president and CEO There is nothing more American than PBS Despite in contemporary times s setback we are determined to keep fighting to preserve the essential services we provide to the American constituents The measure will cost PBS and NPR stations in Mississippi roughly million about of the budget explained Royal Aills executive director of Mississippi Society Broadcasting Already Mississippi Inhabitants Broadcasting has decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children s activities like Caillou and Daniel Tiger s Neighborhood to the state s youngsters hours a day commented Taiwo Gaynor the system s chief content officer This is key for families to have access to content that they don t have to pay for Gaynor commented That is a sad thought to think that we might not be able to provide that for a generation of children Maine s society media system is looking at a hit of million or about of its budget for the next fiscal year announced Rick Schneider president and chief executive officer of Maine Inhabitants He stated he s not ready to identify specific cuts but the system is preparing to reinvent itself to make certain it continues serving the state s residents Maine s rural residents rely heavily on population media for weather updates and tragedy alerts stated Molly Curren Rowles executive director of ACLU of Maine Rowles declared population media was a lifeline to her growing up off the grid Bracing for trouble at stations that take pride in music discovery NPR s Maher fears what the cuts might mean for the system s journalism not just in rural areas where local news can be hard to come by but in telling the rest of the country what is going on there Less funding will also mean less help for popular television and radio services although it s too soon to tell which programs will be affected NPR stations also use millions of dollars in federal money to pay music licensing fees Now a large number of will have to renegotiate these deals which could mean less music or a more limited variety of music on outlets where music discovery is a big part of their identity For example Maher estimates that particular of all classical music broadcast in the United States is on NPR stations That is essentially taking an entire art form out of populace access she disclosed The affair transcends violins and piccolos NPR received patronage Thursday from the heavy metal band Gwar whose lead singer Blothar the Berserker posted a call on social media for fans to pay attention to what is going on with community media Already population media is seeing an increase in donations from reader and viewers to sponsorship its mission and stations are actively sounding the alarm In a plea to listeners on its website Thursday Philadelphia s WXPN radio pointed to its legacy in helping people discover new music The greater part essential thing you can do is aid WXPN and the masses media system in a way that is meaningful to you the station urged on its website But donations aren t going to fill the hole left by the loss in federal funding Maher commented The general media leaders have already turned to lobbying Congress to restore several of the funding through the appropriations process for next year s budget They don t know how much time they have Maher declared it would be inordinately costly and perhaps prohibitive to reopen a radio station that is forced to close Constituents media isn t getting any help from states either At least five states have reduced their own outlays for community media this year either for budget or political reasons Gov Ron DeSantis for example vetoed nearly million that Florida lawmakers had set aside for citizens broadcasters the day before the state s budget took effect on July Done in Florida DeSantis responded on social media to a Trump post calling masses broadcasting a monstrosity that should be defunded Meanwhile back in Alaska Back in Alaska KMXT residents radio station s general manager Jared Griffin called the Senate vote a devastating gut punch He estimated that the cuts would amount to of KMXT s budget Griffin announced the station s board has already agreed on a plan to furlough staff members one day a month and he s taking a pay cut The station covers Kodiak Island home to one of the nation s largest U S Coast Guard bases We have to dip into our savings while we figure out what KMXT is going to look like over the next six months Griffin noted At least for the next year we ll be fine but we re perhaps going to have to look at leasing space in our building to other organizations to help fill that gap Unalaska resident Nikki Whittern mentioned KUCB plays a vital role in the public during emergencies like the tsunami warning They broadcast everything and they make sure that everybody knows and everybody s safe noted Whittern a bartender She spoke while preparing to open the Norwegian Rat Saloon known to local fishermen just as the Rat on Thursday morning Bauder published from New York AP correspondents Sophie Bates in Jackson Mississippi Kate Payne in Tallahassee Florida Jonathan Poet in Philadelphia Isabella Volmert in Lansing Michigan and Patrick Whittle in Portland Maine contributed to this description Source