Public Broadcasters see swell in public support in response to federal cuts
July 28, 2025KDKA-TV reported today that local public broadcaster Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting has made a decent portion of the monies lost with the federal cuts to public broadcasting. The company owns all news WESA (90.5) and music oriented WYEP (91.3). President and CEO Terry O’Reilly told KDKA “Sometimes it takes a crisis to get people up off the couch.” He credits people who gave small $5 or $10 gifts and those who gave five-figure gifts – especially if they were new donors. The result? A half-million dollars were raised the week beginning July 18 and ending July 25. While federal funding only accounted for approximately 9% of the company’s annual budget, the stations are still set to be out $700,000 without those funds.
WQED saw similar boosts from the public, and while they are grateful there is still concern about continuing to work with the PBS local to national technical infrastructure, children’s programming costs and ever-growing music licensing fees.
As it should be IMO. Those who support them can do so directly and cut out a lot of inefficient bureaucratic middlemen. Those who do not aren’t forced to do so against their will with their tax dollars. It’s all good.
Yet, it’s still not enough to cover a lot of what they need to. Something is going to suffer… and likely the wrong something…
“Tax dollars”… The presence of the s in your comment indicates that the per person cost is $2 or higher.
The actual rate is $1.40-$1.60 per person (varying sources). Guaranteed you’ve wasted $1.50 on things other people don’t care about. That’s what living in a society is like, everyone is entitled to difference of opinion. I’d rather fund the next Mr. Rogers for the next generation than have $1.50 back in taxes.
The issue, which admittedly is a philosophical one, is that in the current scenario I get to decide whether I want to “waste” my $1.50 on a public broadcaster. Under the old model someone else made that decision for me and it was simply taken. Once you accept the premise that any amount of money can be forcibly taken from one person and given to another, even for what you regard as a good purpose, we are on a very slippery slope. The dollar amount is irrelevant. I am sure there are things which to my mind are “good” purposes with which you would not agree, and if I forcibly put any amount of your money towards them you would be outraged.
Plus you must consider that if I retain the power to say yes or no to whether they get my $1.50 that creates incentive for the broadcaster to improve their performance in order to earn it. When it just gets handed to them in an omnibus spending bill they get fat and lazy.
This has happened as we have seen things like PBS affiliate stations going dark and selling off their frequencies in the spectrum auction after years of raking in money from both supporters and taxpayers. When they don’t have to please you they don’t have to care.
100% agree Carson, thumbs up!
Ain’t it the truth! It begins with just $1.50. Then some bureaucrat decides it should be $2, then another cause needs public funding, and another and another. If folks still want to write a check they can. Support what you want but – but I do not want a faceless entity in Washington DC deciding for me. That’s how we get Sesame Street in Iraq through the state department. I’m sure there are major corporations that will continue to support Big Bird, and you can buy their products. This is how the market place is to work.
Public Broadcasting has more money than GOD. Ever hear of Corporate Grants? They will survive with their propaganda machines, mark it down.
If the article is to be believed then the people who love public broadcasting are stepping-up to support it, and it will be just fine. I will say that however the most recent head of the CPB was chosen, it was a major mistake. Regardless of her opinions of President Trump, if she was running an organization that was dependent upon Federal funding for it’s survival then taking an adversarial approach towards the sitting US President was just plain dumb. A person in such a role needs to have more refined political skills.