Many posts have dealt with media problems such as ghost newspapers and news deserts.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down its operations after the loss of federal funding, marking the end of almost six decades as the entity that distributed grants to public media, PBS and NPR.
The CPB informed employees on Friday that the majority of staff positions will end on Sept. 30, with a small transition team in place through January, 2026. The CPB has around 100 employees.
Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement on Friday, “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations. CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) represents nearly 200 community radio stations across the United States. Most of these stations are not affiliated with NPR or PBS. They are hyper-local, often 100% volunteer-run operations serving small towns, Tribal nations and rural communities. They operate on shoestring budgets, powered by donated time and secondhand equipment.
For these stations, federal support through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is not ideological — it is survival.
According to CPB and GAO reports, up to half of rural stations could go off the air without federal funding. And when those stations go silent, so do the emergency alert systems communities rely on during wildfires, floods, tornadoes and other emergencies.
This is not theoretical. AM/FM radio remains the most reliable medium in a crisis (FCC, 2018). When cell towers burn, when the power goes out, when internet networks fail, people turn to battery-powered radios.
In many rural and Tribal regions, these community stations are the only real-time source of life-saving information.
The recent debate about NPR’s editorial choices should not be used to justify dismantling this critical civic infrastructure. The $1.1 billion Congress has clawed back will not significantly impact NPR executives or national programs, but it will devastate tiny community stations that have no other safety net.
These stations are staffed by neighbors, teachers and retirees. They air high school sports scores, weather alerts and local music alongside emergency notifications. They provide connection in places where isolation is real — and in moments of crisis, they save lives.
The next time a wildfire roars through Montana, a hurricane floods a Gulf Coast town,or a Tribal community issues evacuation orders, some people will turn their dials and hear only static