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

By MARK THIESSEN and DAVID BAUDER ANCHORAGE Alaska AP Lauren Adams general manager for KUCB inhabitants radio in Unalaska Alaska didn t have much time to reflect on Congress miles away stripping federal funding for general media this week She s been too busy working Related Articles Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children Trump says Coke will shift to cane sugar But increasingly shoppers want no sugar in their sodas US says it destroyed metric tons of expired food aid but it won t affect future distribution Maryland man charged with threatening Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and her family Here s what to know about chronic venous insufficiency Sirens blared in the Aleutian Islands society Wednesday warning of a promising tsunami with a voice over populace loudspeakers urging the area s residents to seek higher ground directly 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 general media s news programs 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 constituents radio than maybe particular other regions of the United States Adams explained Hard decisions ahead for stations across the country The federal money is appropriated to the Corporation for Residents 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 foreseen impact The cuts are expected to weigh majority heavily on smaller constituents media outlets away from big cities and it s likely certain won t survive Katherine Maher NPR s president and CEO estimated as a large number of as NPR stations may face closure in the next year Particular stations are already fielding offers from commercial entities to buy their broadcast licenses she declared Numerous of our stations which provide access to free unique local initiatives and urgency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead stated Paula Kerger PBS president and CEO There is nothing more American than PBS Despite in the present day s setback we are determined to keep fighting to preserve the essential services we provide to the American residents The measure will cost PBS and NPR stations in Mississippi roughly million about of the budget noted Royal Aills executive director of Mississippi Inhabitants Broadcasting Already Mississippi Residents Broadcasting has decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children s initiatives like Caillou and Daniel Tiger s Neighborhood to the state s youngsters hours a day noted 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 announced That is a sad thought to think that we might not be able to provide that for a generation of children Maine s populace media system is looking at a hit of million or about of its budget for the next fiscal year reported Rick Schneider president and chief executive officer of Maine Masses He disclosed 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 constituents media for weather updates and mishap alerts noted Molly Curren Rowles executive director of ACLU of Maine Rowles announced 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 encouragement for popular television and radio offerings 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 multitude 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 various 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 mentioned The affair transcends violins and piccolos NPR received promotion 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 masses media Already constituents media is seeing an increase in donations from reader and viewers to patronage 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 preponderance major thing you can do is sponsorship WXPN and the populace 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 noted The constituents media leaders have already turned to lobbying Congress to restore chosen of the funding through the appropriations process for next year s budget They don t know how much time they have Maher explained it would be inordinately costly and perhaps prohibitive to reopen a radio station that is forced to close Residents media isn t getting any help from states either At least five states have reduced their own outlays for masses media this year either for budget or political reasons Gov Ron DeSantis for example vetoed nearly million that Florida lawmakers had set aside for society 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 constituents 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 explained 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 This photo provided by Brian Venua shows Venua a reporter at the citizens radio station KMXT on air Thursday July in Kodiak Alaska Brian Venua via AP 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 mentioned At least for the next year we ll be fine but we re supposedly going to have to look at leasing space in our building to other organizations to help fill that gap Unalaska resident Nikki Whittern revealed KUCB plays a vital role in the population during emergencies like the tsunami warning They broadcast everything and they make sure that everybody knows and everybody s safe commented Whittern a bartender She spoke while preparing to open the Norwegian Rat Saloon known to local fishermen absolutely as the Rat on Thursday morning Bauder announced 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 document