How federal funding for public media works — and why it’s essential

Federal Funding: What's at stake?

Louisville Public Media is a nonprofit organization that relies on sponsorship, membership and grants to fund our day-to-day operations. We receive about 5% of our annual budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), an independent nonprofit that distributes federal dollars (an average of $1.60 per American annually) to local TV and radio stations across the country.

The majority of our funding comes from the local community, but funding from CPB plays an important role in our sustainability. Growing threats to funding put access to essential local services at risk.

Here’s what we know:

• On February 3, 2025, the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency sent a letter to Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR, asking her to testify before Congress. Her testimony is scheduled for March 26, 2025. 
  
• Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and author of Project 2025’s chapter on the FCC, announced an investigation into the practice of NPR and PBS stations airing sponsorships. On February 28, 2025, twenty stations including NPR, received letters from the FCC enforcement bureau.
  
• Fiscal year 2025 funding for government programs, including support for public media, expires on March 14. Congress must pass another stopgap funding bill or finalize its appropriations bills before that date to avoid a government shutdown.

Here’s how you can help:

• Make your voice heard: Contact your congressional delegation before March 14 and ask lawmakers to safeguard funding for CPB. Contact your Members of Congress using this form or customize this template and email it to a list of congressional contacts in Kentucky and Indiana. Meanwhile, share on social media and with your networks what public media means to you — together our voices are much more far-reaching.
  
• Show your support with a donation: Local community support is our largest and most stable source of funding. No matter how this shakes out, LPM’s public service mission requires your ongoing support. If you’re already a contributing member, thank you! If you’re not, or if you can give more, now is the time to become a member or increase your support.
  
• Stay informed: Sign the Protect My Public Media Day pledge to receive updates.

Public media is a lifeline for emergency information, local journalism, education, and cultural programming. It’s also an important part of our community culture and economy. Now is the time to stand up for it.

This post will be updated.
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How federal funding for public media works — and why it’s essential

In recent weeks, the need for and value of public media funding has become a topic of conversation. Louisville Public Media has put together answers to some frequently asked questions on how public media funding works — and why it’s essential to our service.

Five things to know about public media and federal funding:

• Public media reaches 99% of the U.S. population and serves millions of Americans every day with free and accessible programs, regardless of population density, income or geographic challenges.
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an independent nonprofit that distributes federal dollars (an average of $1.60 per American annually) to local stations. That money is used to invest in programming and services according to each community’s needs. At LPM, these programs and services include the national shows you enjoy, like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as local favorites such as our new talk show, On Track, WFPK Waterfront Wednesday, music education programming and more.
• About 5% of LPM’s annual funding comes from the CPB. It is our largest single source of annual funding.
• CPB funding supports the infrastructure for emergency alert systems (and AMBER alerts in certain states), music licensing and development of educational programs, all of which would be too expensive for stations to do on their own.
• Cuts to federal funding would negatively impact our ability to serve this community in all the ways you’ve relied on. Smaller, rural stations, which rely even more on CPB funding, might not survive at all — leaving entire communities without access to news or emergency alerts.

What is the CPB’s role in public broadcasting?
The CPB is distinct from both NPR and PBS. It is not a broadcaster, but an independent, nonprofit organization created by Congress in 1967 with two primary functions: to serve as a firewall between partisan politics and public broadcasting, and to help fund programming, stations and technology.

Funding for CPB is established through the federal budget annual appropriations process two years in advance with the intention of insulating funding from political pressures. Its total appropriation is currently over $500 million, less than 0.01% of the complete federal budget. The CPB is responsible for allocating their funds from the federal budget in any way that fulfills their mission: to ensure universal access, over-the-air and online, to high-quality content and telecommunications services that are commercial free and free of charge. 

NPR and PBS don’t receive direct support from the CPB; the funding goes directly to local stations so they can decide how best to program for their communities.

How much CPB funding does LPM receive?
Approximately 5 percent of LPM’s budgeted revenue comes from CPB annual funding, about $390,000, each year. That amount is calculated using a formula that takes into account our region’s population and how much funding we are able to raise locally from donations by individuals and support from small businesses and organizations. From time to time we receive additional, restricted support from CPB for specific projects, like expanding our statehouse reporting team or other collaborative journalism initiatives.

Why does LPM (or any station) need federal funding?
Even though member and local business support makes up the bulk of our funding, federal funding — which costs an average of $1.60 per American per year and is split amongst more than 1,500 public media stations — makes public media as you currently know it possible.

CPB’s investment directly supports local stations across the country and enables them to provide essential programs and services. If federal funding is eliminated, public media stations could be forced to cut some or all of the following:

• Signature educational content as set forth in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
• Important public safety communications during natural disasters
• Professional development and resources for teachers
• Music and cultural programming
• Local newsrooms and personnel providing information essential to the well-being of local communities

Some stations, particularly those in rural areas securing a larger percentage of their revenue from the CPB, could even be forced off the air. In many rural communities, public media stations are the only local sources of news.

Stable funding from the CPB and other sources have made it possible for LPM to establish a strong system of local news reporting which Louisville and Southern Indiana relies on. It also makes it possible for us to pool resources for collaborations like Kentucky Public Radio which provides news from across the state and from Frankfort during the legislative session.

What would happen if LPM lost CPB funding?
While we would immediately seek to raise those lost CPB funds from donors, foundations and business sponsors, the loss of federal funding would very likely result in immediate and significant impacts on our ability to provide essential services, including production of local news and music programming, our ability to purchase national programming, maintain broadcast infrastructure and our membership in the KPR and Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom networks, which serve Kentuckians along with thousands of residents in the Appalachian region.

In addition, stations across the country rely on pooled resources from CPB including satellite interconnection, emergency alert systems, the ability to license music, and to develop educational programs. The whole network would be impacted in ways that would also impact LPM.

What is LPM doing to prepare for this possibility?
LPM is preparing for this possibility on many fronts. We are in conversations with other public media organizations and a national organization called Protect My Public Media to coordinate efforts and advocacy. We also meet with station leaders, NPR and other public media services organizations multiple times per week to keep abreast of what's happening and to plan accordingly. And we’re keeping our members and audience informed about what’s going on and how you can help.

Why is public broadcasting needed when we can get news and content from so many sources?
Local public media stations provide critical information — always free of charge — to help citizens make informed decisions. Each year LPM offers free resources in our community. For example:

• We developed a “find my lawmaker” tool that helps Kentucky residents quickly locate background information about their state lawmakers when they are referenced in an LPM News article. 
• When flooding again ripped through eastern Kentucky, we shared resources across the LPM and KPR networks for how to support the flood survivors. 
• KyCIR analyzed a federal dataset to find the industrial facilities that directly released the most greenhouse gases in Kentucky, Indiana, and other states – providing valuable information to the residents affected.
• We partnered with Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Jon Cherry in a four-part series that took us inside the Arthur Street Hotel – a project that is testing the theory that housing people, without requiring them to get mental health or substance use treatment, can help them in the long run.

Other ways we engage and speak to our community include:

• A comprehensive nonpartisan primary and general election voter guide every election cycle for Kentucky and Southern Indiana residents.
• Arts and culture reporting that highlights the many cultural events and provides resources for our community with projects like our annual Ramadan and Lenten Fish Fry Guides, the Arts, Culture, Etc. newsletter, and community-sourced projects like “Curious Louisville.”
• We provide essential statehouse reporting to stay informed on legislation from your state representatives. This reporting is shared across the commonwealth through  the KPR network that reaches over 740,000 listeners every month.
• LPM Classical provides music education programs like Instrumental Partners, The Music Box Podcast and in-school programs to supplement music education in schools.
• We provide free opportunities for our community to come together through the annual WFPK Waterfront Wednesday summer concerts, WUOL New Lens concerts and other events around town.

…and so much more

With the number of local journalists declining nationwide and increased division and isolation in our country, independent and nonprofit public media organizations like LPM continue to provide a high level of service to communities. We follow the ethical guidelines laid out in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics to ensure our content cannot be influenced by commercial interests. In a time where anyone can post their opinion to social media, journalism grounded in rigorous fact-checking is essential to inform decisions that affect our health and safety, our finances, our democracy and our future.

How can I take action to advocate for continued support of public media?

• Contact your congressional delegation before March 14, and ask lawmakers to safeguard funding for CPB. Contact your Members of Congress using this form or customize this template and email it to a list of congressional contacts in Kentucky and Indiana.
• Local community support is our largest and most stable source of funding. No matter how this shakes out, continuing LPM’s public service mission requires your ongoing support. If you’re already a contributing member, thank you! If you’re not, or if you can give more, now is an excellent time to become a member or increase your support.
• Sign the Protect My Public Media Day pledge to get the details on how to participate and to receive updates.