What the end of CPB funding means for VT.
WGDR & WGDH Supporters -
Early this morning Congress finished approving Trump's $9 billion recession package. Among the many horrible cuts to public services in this country and internationally, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding was fully eliminated. That is $2 billion over the next two years. CPB is a large amount of funding for NPR and PBS and affiliate stations in the states, including much smaller and rural stations. It is those stations, ones in Alaska, on reservations, where CPB funds more than 50% of their budgets, where the impact will be felt most. Many of these stations will likely close and their listeners will be left with no access to news, local coverage, and emergency alerts that warn of flooding, tornadoes, fires, and other life threatening events. This doesn't just impact public media, this impacts public safety.
Here in Vermont, we won't face the dire circumstance of any public or community station closing, but we are impacted.
Vermont Public will lose $4 million in funding over the next two years. They will pivot, but it will hurt how they do what they do for the entire state. We encourage you to tune in and follow their digital communications to find out how they are responding. And, we encourage you to give to them to help them fund this gap. It is a very community radio thing to do to rally around our radio friends when they need us!
WGDR/WGDH no longer gets CPB funding. However, we do have a deal through CPB still that keeps the music rights service we pay for affordable. This deal with Sound Exchange, one of the entities that controls rights, is now in question. The five other community radio stations don't receive CPB funding either, so their future is not in jeopardy. But, they too may experience increased costs due to the music rights issue.
Central Vermont Community Radio's story is a cautionary tale of what happens when CPB money is pulled. In 2020, CPB funding was pulled from the station, due to an audit, while it was still owned by Goddard College. At the time, the station had an operating budget of $300,000, two full time staff, and Goddard's overhead support for administration, fundraising, and facilities. The CPB funding was half the budget. Only 16% of the budget came from community support. The loss of the CPB money was what made the College give the station to the community. They were unable to afford to keep it running.
Since then, we have worked extremely hard to not just keep the station on the air, but to build a sustainable operating budget. Four years in, we are now at around $135K a year, with one full time and one very part time staff. We are proud that nearly 80% of our budget is funded directly from listeners like you. And, yet, still are not at the capacity we had or need to produce the high level programming you want, need, and love. We'll keep at it and we know, alongside making sure public radio makes it through, you will keep up your support of your pals in community radio too.
This is not a time to turn it down, it is a time to turn it up. If you can, give a little. If you have more means, give more to the stations you adore and to the stations so many rely on every day here in Vermont.
Take good care folks and thanks for listening to all our great public and community stations in our green mountains.
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, Station Manager WGDR/WGDH, Llu@WGDR.org or (802) 276-0365.
