A public media organization in a university town just a few hours northwest of Philadelphia is set to be the first in the United States to go dark after the Trump administration stripped away federal funding for NPR and PBS.

WPSU, Penn State’s NPR and PBS affiliate and the first educational TV station in Pennsylvania, will go dark within the next nine months because of the combined fiscal forces of Trump’s cuts and declining support from the school.

“Never would have imagined it,” said Jeff Hughes, WPSU’s former program director who retired in August after a 35-year career with the station. “The news devastated me, it devastated all the employees.”

WPSU has broadcasted for more than 70 years and serves State College and 24 rural counties in central and northern Pennsylvania. In addition

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