Peoria Public Radio looking OK, plans to be sounding better

It’s been five months since Congress cancelled $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting at the request of the Trump administration – funding Congress previously approved. About 1,000 local stations have been negatively affected, according to media analyst Bob Sillick.

In central Illinois, WCBU-FM 89.9 is losing approximately $125,000 annually in federal funds (about 15% of its annual budget), and WTVP-TV 47 is losing some $1 million a year (about 30% of its annual budget).

At WCBU, its fundraising drive Sept. 29-Oct. 8 exceeded the National Public Radio affiliate’s goals of $50,000.

“The community showed up to support WCBU,” says R.C. McBride, the Executive Director and General Manager at WCBU and WGLT-FM 89.1.

“The community has been very supportive since rescission, and of course we will need that to continue.  Fundraising has gone well, but long-term viability will require a lot of ongoing effort and support.”

Challenges remain – as do opportunities.

“Stations shouldn’t count on being able to fundraise next year like they are now,” commented Alex Curley, a former public media producer and analyst. “Losing federal funding is a permanent condition. There are plenty of stations that may be financially stable today but not in three years. That’s why layoffs have started at stations that generate plenty of revenue. Stations aren’t just reacting to the immediate funding situation, but what will happen in the next four or five years.”

Nationally, some stations are trimming staff. WCBU has not laid off anyone but also hasn’t filled vacancies.

McBride, who’s also on NPR’s Board of Directors, says, “I’m cautiously optimistic we could add a full-time journalist position next fiscal year, but there’s just too much uncertainty to promise that.”

Other stations are cutting programming and a few are joining forces with other broadcasters, partnering in regional systems.

“In Illinois, all of our public radio and TV stations have been meeting regularly and have established a couple of project working groups,” McBride says. “We’re aligned on the end goal – reduce overhead so that individual stations can maintain, and eventually grow, service to their local communities.”

Meanwhile, work is underway to improve WCBU’s reception, in the next several months replacing its Studio-Transmitter Link, which sends studio sound to its transmitter.

“It should result in a noticeable improvement in audio quality on 89.9 as well as 89.9 HD-1 and 89.9 HD-2 (classical music),” McBride says. “It will also allow for us to place programming information – the title of the NPR news story that’s running, or the title and artist of the song that’s playing – onto car radio screens.”

Finally, stations in vulnerable communities, where the loss of funding can exceed 50%, hope to see some stability from a one-time $36.5 million commitment to public media from a group of charitable donors: the Ford Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations and the Schmidt Family Foundation.