Editor’s note: Following our newsroom’s protocol for reporting on our station’s finances, no Wyoming Public Radio administrators reviewed this story before it was published.
Wyoming’s Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) voted to defund Wyoming Public Media, stripping the radio station’s usual state funds from the budget bill it’s now crafting.
The JAC is helmed by members of Wyoming’s right-wing Freedom Caucus, which has promised to slash spending. The committee has been making similar cuts to the state’s economic development agency, the Wyoming Department of Health, and the University of Wyoming, which saw its request for the next two years slashed by roughly $61 million.
That figure includes a $1.7 million cut from UW’s block grant, axing the amount that would typically be passed to Wyoming Public Media, which is headquartered on the UW campus.
Rep. Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan) pointed to the federal gutting of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and said Wyoming would “follow suit” by defunding public radio.
“Government monies should go for government programs,” Pendergraft said. “Wyoming Public Radio, NPR, if all of these elements are as good as they say they are, let them compete on the free market with everybody else.”
Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) accused Pendergraft of cutting public media’s funding because of its reporting or other content. He said that’s “a slippery slope.”
“Where does it go? Where does it end?” Gierau asked. “As far as I’m concerned, public radio is a place for a free exchange of public ideas, just like a university is.”
Wyoming Public Media is funded through a variety of sources. In 2025, its $4.8 million budget came from individual donors (41%), UW direct and indirect support (32%), CPB (10%), corporate sponsorships (7%), investment income from an endowment held by the UW Foundation (6%) and other smaller amounts from grants, in-kind donations and other sources.
The end of CPB cut roughly $500,000 from WPM’s budget, or about 10% of the total. General Manager Christina Kuzmych told lawmakers last week the station had ramped up fundraising as CPB shut down. It has so far been able to cover those losses for at least 2026.
If Pendergraft’s amendment survives the session and the state government strips WPM of the funding it once received through UW, it will cut WPM’s budget by a further $800,000 a year in perpetuity.
That would represent a further 17% cut on top of the 10% cut wrought by the closure of CPB.
In a statement following the committee’s vote, Kuzmych said WPM staff are “disappointed but not discouraged.”
“The $1.69 million reflects an annual $800,000 budget cut affecting eight staff members, including two in news, two engineers, two in programming and production, and two in administration and compliance,” she wrote. “We have already streamlined our operations significantly to cope with previous federal cuts, leaving no ‘fat’ in our budget for further reductions. Producing news and services like Wyoming Sounds is not possible without staff, and WPM cannot effectively serve a state that spans approximately 97,000 square miles with just two engineers. If these cuts remain in place, something will have to give.”
Kuzmych added the block grant money supports personnel and is not used to purchase NPR or other programs, which are instead funded by the money raised from individual donors or sponsorships.
Wyoming Public Radio broadcasts to 90% of the state and has 60,000 listeners.
The JAC will keep working on the budget bill this week, finalizing it before this year’s budget session, which starts Feb. 9. It will then be vetted, amended and ultimately approved by the full Wyoming Legislature.
After that, but before it can take effect, it will head to the governor for his signature and line-item vetoes.
