NEW YORK (AP) — Coping with a sudden loss in federal funding, PBS affiliate KSPS in Spokane, Washington, faced a surprise extra hurdle. Many of its contributing members — at one point almost half — lived in Canada, and they were withdrawing support out of anger at President Donald Trump's desire to make the country the 51st member of the United States.
When Congress decided this summer to eliminate $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, it left some 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations, each with unique issues related to their communities and history, to figure out what that means.
Many launched emergency fund drives and are heartened by the response. The national NPR and PBS networks are reducing expected dues payments, and a philanthropic effort focused on the hardest-hit stations is t