Local news stations react to federal funding cuts, brace for impact

Congress voted Friday to roll back $1.1 billion in funds allocated to public media, a move that will take millions from local stations in New Mexico.

Member stations across the country are bracing for impact and ramping up fundraising efforts. Across New Mexico, 18 radio and television stations received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, amounting to more than $5.8 million in federal funds.

Just after midnight on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives voted 216-213 to accept a Senate amendment on the rescission package, with only two Republicans breaking from the pack. The bill is now on President Donald Trump’s desk. When signed, it will mark success where three past presidents and five decades of Republicans failed.

Aspirations to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting stretch back to Richard Nixon, and it appeared prominently in Project 2025, a policy handbook crafted by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation billed as a blueprint for President Donald Trump’s second term.

“Not only is the federal government trillions of dollars in debt and unable to afford the more than half a billion dollars squandered on leftist opinion each year, but the government should not be compelling the conservative half of the country to pay for the suppression of its own views,” wrote Mike Gonzales in Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership. Trump himself often campaigned on getting rid of “government subsidies” for the “biased, liberal media.”

Not every Republican was for the cuts. In arguing against the measure on the Senate floor this week, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, argued that the rural stations provide much more than just news, they also alert of tsunamis, earthquakes and other extreme natural disasters. That very night, Alaska experienced an earthquake to which local NPR stations alerted listeners.

The cuts will take effect in October, at the beginning of the federal fiscal year, causing stations to scramble to cover the gaps.

The fundraising pushes started today, with NMPBS sending texts to subscribers informing them of the cuts. “Just as NMPBS is always here for you, I urge you to continue to be here for NMPBS,” wrote “Theresa from NMPBS” asking for a donation.

“The rush to do this in the next fiscal year really creates a cramp in any business’ style,” said Jeff Pope, the general manager of KUNM, prior to the vote Thursday. “Nobody pivots in nine weeks to try to replace 12% of (their) funding.”

KUNM will lose nearly $240,000 in funding in the form of a Radio Community Service Grant from the CPB. Pope said there may be layoffs, as well as changes in production and content. However, Pope was optimistic that stations might “get creative” and band together to split costs.

Some stations stand to lose much more, particularly smaller television and radio stations that rely largely on CPB funding.

Native Public Media, which advises a network of Native American-run radio stations across the country, protested the funding cuts Friday, warning of an information blackout in rural areas like reservations.

“With this funding eliminated, dozens of Native stations may go dark, severing lifelines that connect people to each other, to public safety, and to the nation,” Native Public Media said in a statement Friday.

A local news station in Albuquerque echoed the sentiment.

“It’s really difficult for small communities to support their own local stations,” said Franz Joachim, general manager for NMPBS in Albuquerque. “That’s why the (CPB) system is so important.”

NMPBS receives about $1.7 million annually from CPB, accounting for 18% of the station’s total funding, Joachim said.

Despite the funding hit, NMPBS’ large population base and strong public support leaves the station in a relatively good financial position.

“We’re going to be here,” Joachim said. “We have the population density in Albuquerque, Santa Fe (and) Rio Rancho to draw on for a funding base.”

NMPBS receives about half its funding from donors who contribute money during on-air funding drives, he said.

“We are extremely fortunate to have been so well served by our public, by viewers like you,” Joaquim said. “We have very healthy reserves. We are in a very solid financial state. We are in a state that values public television and supports it.”

Other components of NMPBS’ funding include the state of New Mexico, at 11%, and underwriters and sponsors, at 8-10%, he said. NMPBS also receives in-kind funding from the University of New Mexico, in the form of maintenance and co-owned real estate and equipment.

Joaquim said it is “premature” to talk about budget cutting measures and he hopes to avoid laying off any of KNME’s 50 full-time staff members.

Adrian Valarde, general manager of KRWG-TV Public Media in Las Cruces, said Friday that the funding cuts will have their greatest impact on smaller stations like his. KWRG-TV will lose more than $900,000 in funding from CPB.

“Community-supported media organizations play a critical role in serving the public, and unfortunately, small and rural stations like KRWG Public Media are especially vulnerable to funding reductions or eliminations,” Valarde said in a statement.

Specific cuts at KRWG “are uncertain,” he said. “However, our commitment to fulfilling our mission remains unchanged.”