What would be the impact on public radio stations?
If the cuts survive the legislative process, public radio stations will be severely affected by this decision on several levels. The primary impact on local stations will be a significant reduction in the grant money they receive from CPB to fund their operating and programming expenses, a $50,000 loss to Spokane Public Radio. Called Community Service Grants (CSGs), this revenue helps stations with everything from local production to acquisition of NPR programming, critical community outreach projects and the most basic operational services, such as electricity and other utilities. This funding, coupled with donations from listeners, is crucial to the survival of rural stations, many of which are sole, critical radio services to their communities. If the cuts are finalized, many stations will have to reduce or eliminate programming and other important community outreach activities. In addition, the cuts to CPB’s budget eliminate funding this coming year for public radio stations’ conve
