NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Congress has approved a plan to claw back more than $1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, leaving Tennessee public television and radio stations scrambling to make up for the shortfall.
The funding was already appropriated for the year, with many stations expecting to receive the money this fall. Now these stations are urgently fundraising to stay on air.
Nashville PBS, which reaches nearly 2.4 million viewers, provides free access to educational, news, environmental, emergency services, and cultural content reflecting the region's diversity.
"Our mission is to serve PBS, which stands for Public Broadcasting Service, not stations. Our sole purpose is to be here as part of the community, reflecting the community, really elevating the community voice, not only locally, but nationally," said Becky Magura.
Magura, president and CEO of Nashville PBS, explained that the nonprofit relies on local donors, corporate funding, and government support, with federal funding accounting for 20% of their budget.
Staff will soon face a shortfall of over $1 million after Congress voted to rescind $1.1 billion—equivalent to two years of funding—from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
When considering all Tennessee PBS stations together, Magura says they're losing over $7 million.
President Donald Trump has consistently supported these cuts. Last month, he wrote on his Truth Social platform, "NPR and PBS are a Radical Left Disaster, and 1000% against the Republican Party!"
Magura says these cuts come at a significant cost to the community.
"It will impact our ability to create content, our ability to connect to the community in the ways that we always have," Magura said.
The funding reduction will also affect children's programming and emergency alerts, and public television isn't the only sector losing funding.
"Public radio and public media in general are all about grassroots, right? It's a lot of people given a little to make something special happen," said Val Hoeppner, executive director of WMOT Roots Radio.
WMOT Roots Radio now needs to find $300,000 to $400,000 in annual funding.
Hoeppner says Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds cover their music license, which expires in December, and fees for upgrades to systems that deliver content, including critical emergency information like tornado warnings.
"We're going to have to make some hard decisions, and that means, what programs stay, what programs go," Hoeppner said.
Now they are calling on listeners and viewers to help through donations for Nashville PBS and WMOT Roots Radio
This story was reported on-air by journalist Kelsey Gibbs and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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