Public media organizations around the nation are adjusting after Congress approved President Donald Trump’s request to withdraw funding.
The $1.1 billion cut would strip two years of federal support for NPR, PBS and more than 1,500 local stations, many of which could go dark. This funding will disappear on Oct. 1, according to KCUR.
On the morning of July 24, the House of Representatives voted 51–48 to pass the “Rescissions Act of 2025”, which cuts about $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, also known as CPB. This will result in a permanent loss of critical funding for KCUR 89.3, Kansas City’s NPR member station, which first broadcast in 1957.
“This recision of funding does upend everything we’re doing,” KCUR Interim Director of Content, Lisa Rodriguez, on the podcast Up To Date said. “We have to figure out and scramble to continue to offer these services. We will figure it out, but not without the help and support of our community.”
KCUR stands to lose about 9% of its radio budget and 13% of its TV budget. The station has also increased fundraising as it evaluates long-term sustainability. If KCUR can’t fill the funding gap, less daily news coverage, less investigative news coverage, and less accountability for local officials, are future possibilities, according to Matthew Kelley, writer for The Kansas City Star.
“It is much easier to shoot the messenger than to deal with the message,” Leila Fadel, NPR host of Morning Edition and Up First said on Up to Date. “And what we do every day as journalists is reporting without fear or favor, and sometimes that ruffles the wrong feathers. It’s easier to say, ‘They’re just biased and you can’t trust them,’ so that you don’t have to deal with the facts in journalism.”
With a yearly budget of $535 million, the CPB funds more than 1,500 local public radio and television stations nationwide. In April, President Trump described NPR and PBS as “radical left ‘monsters’ that so badly hurt our country,” on Truth Social and called for them to be defunded.
“These are not honest news organizations,” White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a clip from Fox News on July 17, 2025. “These are partisan, left-wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it’s a good use of the taxpayers’ time and money.”
Some politicians disagree with the move, arguing that public media is a service to the people, not just a resource for information. According to the Senator of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, it’s not just news that will be disappearing — it’s tsunami alerts, landslide alerts, and volcanic eruption alerts.
- Dictionary Definition
KCUR n. Started by student volunteers, including some from Kansas City University of Osteopathic Medicine and College of Biosciences, KCUR was the first university-licensed educational FM station in Missouri and the second FM station in Kansas City. The call letters came from the university’s short name, KCU.
To continue offering services, Kansas City PBS and KCUR are asking for community support. You can donate directly by visiting www.kcur.org or www.kansascitypbs.org.
