Editor's Note: Since this story first published, Pres. Trump notified his intention to Congress to end nearly all federal funding for public media, which includes NPR and PBS, according to a White House official who spoke to NPR.
From NPR: "The memo, which the administration plans to send to Congress when it reconvenes from recess on April 28, will open a 45-day window in which the House and Senate can either approve the rescission or allow the money to be restored. ... In a statement on Monday that did not refer to the memo, the White House said: 'For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'" The statement includes examples of what the White House said is "trash that passes as 'news'" and "intolerance of non-leftist viewpoints.''"
As the Trump administration and DOGE reshape federal funding, public radio has been in the news alongside national parks, public health and the national weather service. We asked Wyoming Public Media’s general manager, Christina Kuzmych, to talk us through how the station is funded, and how changes and probes at the federal level are affecting your local public radio station.
Editor’s Note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Kamila Kudelska: So, Wyoming Public Media's annual budget is about $4 million, where does that money come from?
Christina Kuzmych: It comes from a variety of sources. The biggest one is members and major donors. That's 46% of our operating funds. Corporate underwriters is 14%. Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is 13%, UW (University of Wyoming) is 25%. So that makes up the budget.
KK: Got it. What does this station CPB grant cover?
CK: Programming and operations are the main things. Just about all aspects of public broadcasting have CPB money attached to them. It's part of the fabric. For example, if you listen to Morning Edition and All Things Considered, that's paid for by CPB money. If you listen to the reports from the statehouse and the two reporters we just had this year, that's funded by [the] Corporation for Public Broadcasting. If you drive through Wyoming, you can pick up Wyoming Public Radio just about every place in the state. That statewide connectivity is funded by CPB.
KK: Can you clarify to the listeners exactly what CPB is, what [the] Corporation for Public Broadcasting is?
CK: CPB is a private nonprofit corporation. It was authorized by Congress in 1967 when the Public Broadcasting Act was brought about. Now here's how it works: CPB appropriates money to stations and stations then do their broadcasting activities. They support close to 400 public radio stations, and most importantly, they make sure that rural stations are funded. And Wyoming is all rural.
KK: So they help with the infrastructure money.
CK: Oh yeah. We have a lot of antennas and satellites. We have 46 sites, because we serve all of Wyoming. So all of that equipment and the satellite interconnection for those sites is funded by CPB.
KK: Got it. And just jumping back, you also mentioned that we have about 25% of our budget from the University of Wyoming. So what does the money coming from UW offer?
CK: UW has two sources of money that it offers to us. Direct funding, and that funds half of our full-time salaries and benefits. The other part that it takes care of is indirect costs. For example, the studio that we're sitting in is university property. So our studios and our offices in Laramie and our main studio are funded by the University of Wyoming. They also fund some of our sites, for example, Pilot Hill, which serves Laramie and Cheyenne. That is on university ground.
KK: And WPM is licensed by UW. What does that mean?
CK: The trustees of the university hold the license. So we are an institutional licensee and I would say most of the stations in the United States are owned by universities.
KK: But we are editorially independent from them.
CK: Yes, we have to be. That's part of the license agreement, is that we serve the public and not the institution that licenses us.
KK: Okay. And what are you hearing about CPB funding, both for Wyoming Public Media and more broadly right now?
CK: Well, it's in question and some would say it's in peril. For example, on March 26, the DOGE subcommittee chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) called for the complete defunding and dismantling of NPR and PBS. Recently the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) chair started by issuing a statement that he believes public broadcasting doesn't merit public support. We watched the dismemberment of The Voice of America. We watched how AP was treated over the Gulf of Mexico versus the Gulf of America issue. So that has us rattled.
Now because CPB is funded by Congress, we're used to having to justify ourselves every time there's an election or budget appropriations are in discussion. Both parties use public broadcasting as a lightning rod issue to jin up their bases, and we get it. We understand that. This administration, however, is a little different. So our level of concern is a little higher.
KK: At the top, we mentioned underwriting as part of our budget, and the chair of the Federal Communications Commission has been investigating whether public TV and radio stations are airing advertisements in violation of federal guidelines. Has WPM been notified it's being probed, and can you explain a bit how underwriting is different from advertising and why that's an important distinction?
CK: Okay. I'll start from the big one. NPR and 13 stations have been notified by FCC and they're providing their underwriting samples and practices to FCC as we speak. We have not heard anything from them. WPM hasn't.
Now the question of basic underwriting and advertising. Advertising on commercial stations has a lot of elements, including different voices, active in descriptions, language, music, jingles, sound effects. It has pricing information and it can be read in a very loud voice.
Underwriting on public radio is limited to naming [the] client, their services and their location. It cannot have pricing information or comparative language. So for example, you could say on public radio, ‘Underwriting for this program comes from Jacob's General Motors dealership offering the 2025 GMC Sierra and the Chevrolet Equinox. Located in downtown Casper on Main Street.’
On [a] commercial station, you would say, ‘We're Jacobs General Motors. Come see our various lines of GMC Sierras. We offer unbeatable prices. We lower all our prices in Wyoming. Come check us out. First five customers will get a discount.’ That would be on commercial radio.
KK: Okay, so there's an important distinction there.
CK: There is a distinction and part of that distinction is because we are federally funded.
KK: Got it.
CK: So we can't be competing with the commercial radio stations for clients.
KK: The president and other high-profile politicians have been saying public broadcasters shouldn't receive federal funding. What are you hearing from the public here in Wyoming, but also nationally, about tax dollars helping pay for these stations?
CK: People in Wyoming on all sides of the issue are pretty supportive. Wyoming has always been supportive of public broadcasting and we find that a lot of our donors come from both sides of the aisle. We don't see that much of a dislike for public broadcasting in Wyoming. Nationally, I would say it's pretty much the same. And the one way that you can really take a look at it is, look at the way public broadcasting has been treated in budgeting sessions in Congress over the past decades. There's a lot of flurry, there's a lot of activity, a lot of language crosses paths, but in the end it gets funded. Why? Because the politicians realize that the public likes public radio and public television, and that defunding it is not a good idea.
