The wave of public radio and TV closures many feared after Congress clawed back federal funding hasn’t happened, at least not yet.
After the Rescissions Act of 2025 wiped out about $1.1 billion in support and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting began winding down, so-called “rage giving” from listeners and large philanthropies created an unexpected safety net, Paul Farhi reports for the Medill Local News Initiative. Revenue rose an average of 44% at 170 stations surveyed by Contributor Development Partnership. In rural Kentucky, WKMS raised more than $900,000 in the months after the cut, more than covering its lost federal money.
The cushion isn’t universal. Semipublic tracks about 550 public media layoffs, roughly 3% of the workforce, and dozens of rural stations that relied on federal money for 40% or more of their budgets remain at risk. The Public Media Bridge Fund has sent about $26 million in emergency grants and loans and estimates up to 115 stations were at risk of collapse. Losing them could have deepened news deserts in about 10 counties where public radio is the only professional news source left.
Stations are also leaning on mergers and collaborations, such as Texas Public Radio’s combination with the San Antonio Report and Chicago Public Media’s 2022 purchase of the Sun-Times. Warning signs are showing, though. Contributor Development Partnership’s new-donor index fell 16% in July, the first drop since the rescission.
Leave a Reply