How federal funding for public media works—and why it’s essential

Five things to know about public media and federal funding:

• Public media reaches 99% of the U.S. population and serves millions of Americans every day.
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an independent nonprofit that distributes federal dollars (an average of $1.60 per American annually) to local stations. That money is used to invest in programming and services according to each community’s needs.
• In 2025, KSUT's grant from the CPB Community Service Grant is $333,000, or 19% of our annual budget.
• CPB funding allows public media stations to pool resources for satellite interconnection, emergency alert systems, music licensing, and educational program development, all of which would be too expensive for stations to do independently.
• Cuts to federal funding would negatively impact rural stations like ours' ability to serve the people who need it most. Learn more at Protect My Public Media.

KSUT Public Radio is an NPR Member Station, part of a nationwide public media network that serves millions of Americans. The network reaches nearly all Americans with free and accessible programs, regardless of population density, income, or geographic challenges.

Public media stations are partially funded by the CPB. Each station is locally managed and makes programming and service decisions to address unique community needs and interests. At KSUT, these programs and services include the national shows you enjoy, like Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, as well as local favorites like the Music Blend, Tales of the New West, and San Juan Sunrise.

Public media’s service also includes lifesaving emergency alerts through its management and operation of the Public Radio Satellite System.

The need for and value of federal funding for public media has become a common topic lately, so we put together this page to answer frequently asked questions about how public media’s funding works and what impact the absence of that funding may have on public radio and television here and across the country.

If you have other questions, please reach out to KSUT Executive Director Tami Graham at tami@ksut.org.

The CPB is distinct from both NPR and PBS. It is not a broadcaster but an independent, nonprofit organization created by Congress in 1967 with two primary functions: to serve as a firewall between partisan politics and public broadcasting and to help fund programming, stations, and technology.

Funding for CPB is established through the federal budget annual appropriations process two years in advance with the intention of insulating funding from political pressures. Its total appropriation is currently over $500 million. The CPB is responsible for allocating its funds from the federal budget in any way that fulfills its mission: to ensure universal access, over-the-air and online, to high-quality content and telecommunications services that are commercial-free and free of charge. 

NPR and PBS don’t receive direct support from the CPB; the funding goes directly to local stations so they can decide how best to program for their communities.

Approximately 19% of our budgeted revenue, or about $333,000, comes from the CPB. The amount is calculated using a complex formula that takes into account our region’s population and how much funding we are able to raise locally from donations by individuals and support from small businesses and organizations.

For Fiscal Year 2025:

• Business Support (underwriting, sponsorships, digital ads) 31%
• Listener Members 27%
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (federal funding) 19%
• Other grants (non-federal): 16.5%
• Special Events 3.5%
• Other 3%

Support from local listeners and businesses accounts for over half of our revenue annually. It is critical for KSUT's sustainability and always has been.

Even though member and local business support make up the bulk of KSUT’s funding, federal funding, which costs an average of $1.60 per American per year, makes public media, as you currently know it, possible.

CPB’s investment directly supports local stations across the country and enables them to provide essential programs and services. If federal funding is eliminated, public media stations could be forced to cut some or all of the following:

• Signature educational content as set forth in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
• Important public safety communications during natural disasters
• Professional development and resources for teachers
• Music and cultural programming
• Local newsrooms and personnel providing information essential to the well-being of local communities

Some stations, particularly those in rural areas that secure a larger percentage of their revenue from the CPB, could even be forced off the air. In many rural communities, public media stations are the only local sources of news, weather, and emergency information.

This is especially true for stations serving Native American communities, including KSUT's Tribal Radio. KSUT Tribal Radio's service area includes extremely remote areas with limited or no internet or phone service. As such, it is often a lifeline to a primarily Native American listening audience.

Stable funding from the CPB and other sources has allowed KSUT to expand its programming and online services.

It also allows us to maintain our radio transmitters and serve a mountainous region of Colorado with essential services that provide the public with local, national, and world news as well as daily weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings.

While KSUT would immediately seek to raise the $333,000 in lost CPB funds from donors and business sponsors, the loss of federal funding would very likely result in immediate and significant impacts on our ability to provide essential services, including the production of local and regional news and music programming, our ability to purchase national programming, maintain broadcast infrastructure and our membership in collaborations such as Rocky Mountain Community Radio, the Capitol News Alliance, and the Mountain West News Bureau.