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Leaders of both Southern California’s biggest public news and information radio stations said the threat of eliminating federal support for public broadcasting by Republicans in Washington would be a serious blow to local programming.
KCRW-FM (89.9) and LAIST, broadcast under the Call Sign KPCC-FM (89.3), get a large portion of the financial support from other sources, but the loss of government subsidies could threaten the kind of compensation illustrated in the aftermath of the Eaton and Pallisard fires.
The statement came after Wednesday’s hearing in Washington. There, they criticized the heads of NPR and PBS for what the Congressional Committee called biased reporting. Committee chairperson Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) vowed to end taxpayer support for public broadcasters labelled “communist.”
The cuts cost $1.7 million, $41 million from the Pasadena-based LAIST budget, but Santa Monica-based KCRW will lose $1.3 million from the $24 million budget, executives said.
“We have to balance our budgets every year, so we need to make clear changes,” KCRW President Jennifer Ferro said. “We don’t want to backtrack and provide services. We want to provide more services. This cut requires us to raise $1.3 million just to stay where we are.
Public funding for the media has been questioned many times before, but Ferro said the threat has been felt more severe this year as many programs and departments have been subject to cuts by the Trump administration.
Following the Washington hearing, Prime Minister Megan Garvey’s LAIST editor sent an email to listeners defending the station’s coverage.
“We provide deep news, thoughtful conversations and important local coverage with no commercial and political influence,” Garvey’s message said. “We believe that by listening to the perspectives of the entire spectrum, we will make us a stronger, more informed country.”
The station said donations increased during the recent on-air pledge drive. The staff repeatedly said the station would need more donations to combat the government’s potential for funding.
In early March, LAIST Development Executive Rob Risko revealed the magnitude of the threat presented by the loss of federal funds.
“This is LAIST’s $1.7 million funding, or more than 13 jobs, providing direct detailed reports on housing, public safety, climate, breaking news, and more,” Risk wrote to listeners. “If those dollars are gone, Laist will be here for you every day.”
However, he says it is “significantly difficult” for LAIST to “reveal corruption,” providing a kind of destructive news report demonstrated during the fire, achieving a detailed analysis exemplified in LAIST’s election “Voters Game Plan.”
Both stations are called unfair to label their news coverage diagonally when the majority of their stories focus on non-ideological topics. Ferro, for example, points to the forum KCRW held on Zoom, where an audience of 3,000 people have asked questions about health concerns raised by the wildfire.
“Now, people can depend on and have a trustworthy institution, so I feel it’s very important,” Ferro said. “Maybe it’s a quaint idea, but we’re not just about making money from you, but about selling your personal data. We’re trying to bring in news and information for the sole purpose of educating our community.”
And what is threatened by the possibility of companies cutting back on public broadcasting is an annual payment of around $11 million to support the satellite systems connecting NPR stations. Satellite links help stations provide live news reports from anywhere in the country.
Ferro, who was in Washington for Wednesday’s hearing, will no longer be serviced unless the station finds a way to close the funding gap.
Small and remote community stations have earned 40% of funds from the CPB, making it difficult for them to be broadcast without federal dollars, Ferro said.
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