Public radio stations in large, prosperous cities get most of their money from sources other than government. Only six percent of the funding for WVTF and Radio IQ, for example, comes from Washington, but General Manager Roger Duvall says about 80 public radio stations get more than half of their money from the federal government, and the executive order could shut them down.
“It’s going to devastate many small and rural communities, and many of those operations are the only source of news and information or the only source of independently produced programming in their entire region," he says.
And the General Manager of Blue Ridge Public Television, which covers about 42% of Virginia, says nearly a third of his money comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“Our funding is based on a three-legged stool – federal funding, state support and the proverbial viewers like you. Losing any leg of that funding creates a real hardship for us.”
William Anderson and Roger Duvall note that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – which distributes money from Congress to public television and radio stations, NPR and PBS -- is not a federal agency, subject to presidential authority, so CPB plans to challenge the executive order in court.
Critics have accused PBS and NPR of political bias, claiming the organizations are anti-American, but Anderson and Duvall dispute that.
“The two most popular programs on PBS are the annual Memorial Day concert and the annual Fourth of July concert," Duvall explains. "You don’t get any more American than celebrating our nation’s heritage on Memorial Day and on July 4th.”
“We’ve always been the region’s storyteller in a visual way," says Anderson. "For instance, our latest documentary Is on the Norfolk and Western Railroad. You know that is our culture. That is our heritage.”
And they argue public broadcasting plays an important part in protecting Americans in the event of dangerous weather and other emergencies.
“Our colleagues in Asheville really stepped up with Hurricane Helene, and I’d like to think we did an exemplary job as well with that same storm," Duvall adds. "We’re blessed to have a staff meteorologist – Nick Gilmore – and Nick helps us figure out what we need to get out there, and we get the information out ahead of time. We have the emergency alert. Roxy and others in Southwest Virginia were telling folks what happened afterwards. It’s not just the storm that passes through. It’s what happens before – the preparation, what to do when you’re hunkering down and then the aftermath.”
“We were one of the first groups to go into Damascus with some recent footage from what it looked like before and then what it looked like afterwards," Anderson recalls. "That brought huge attention legislatively to the Commonwealth and to the General Assembly and the governor.”
As the question of funding for public broadcasting makes its way through the courts, viewers and listeners are unlikely to see or hear changes in programming.
“The 2025 money is here," Duvall explains. "We pay in advance for a lot of our programming, so there won’t be any immediate impact.”
But he says his stations are looking for ways to economize if necessary.
