Northwest Public Broadcasting — an independent source of journalism that reaches more than 3.6 million people in 44 counties — will make programming cuts after losing $2 million annually because of federal reductions in public media under the Rescissions Act of 2025.
“The whole point to attack trusted media is so the American people don't know who they can rely on anymore,” said Sueann Ramella, director of audience at Northwest Public Broadcasting.
As uncertainty looms over public broadcasting nationwide, NWPB is preparing to absorb federal cuts while holding onto hope that listener donations will help it continue serving its audience in the best way possible.
NWPB is an affiliate of National Public Radio and broadcasts to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of British Columbia. It is based at Washington State University in Pullman.
Program cuts
Ramella said she was not surprised when the cuts were approved. Once the vote passed in the House, her department — programming and operations, which oversees everything that goes over the air — began preparing for the funding they were about to lose.
She was referring to the House passing a bill on July 18 by a vote of 216-213 to rescind $9 billion from public broadcasting and foreign aid, according to the Associated Press. This includes canceling $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Explore Together Event At The Walla Walla Center for Children and Families
Daniel Tiger welcomes visitors to the Explore Together event sponsored by Northwest Public Broadcasting at the Walla Walla Center for Children and Families on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
The CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation and the largest single source of funding for public radio and television. According to its website, it supports more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.
Ramella said in an interview that NWPB will cut some programs from the air, and the organization is currently in negotiations with individual shows. She added that the station is reviewing three to five shows that may be taken off the air and replaced with more popular programs or additional repeats.
“We have to wait for NPR and PBS to figure out where they're going to lead us, essentially,” Ramella said. “So we're waiting not only on financial information, but also on programming and tactical information from national PBS and NPR, as well as making inside station-to-station negotiations for shows.”
She said her team is evaluating the cost of individual programs, and ultimately, the station will keep the best of what it can afford. NWPB’s general manager, Cara Williams Fry, also has been in discussions with WSU to develop plans to address the budget shortfall, Ramella said.
“Northwest Public Broadcasting will still be on the air,” she said. “We just don't know what color, shape or size at this moment.”
When asked about potential layoffs, Ramella said the general manager’s goal is to retain as many staff members as possible and not resort to layoffs.
Funding loss
Ramella said NWPB will lose $2 million annually under the federal cuts, which will affect support services such as music rights. She said the organization's operating budget will shrink about 20%.
The CPB, she said, negotiates music rights on behalf of all stations in the U.S. so they can broadcast music without engaging in expensive negotiations on their own.
“It’s essentially providing this platform for the American people to get free music,” she said.
She’s concerned that if CPB can no longer function the way it has, negotiating music rights could become a “heavy lift.”
Ramella said listeners have come to expect high-quality programming and strong regional and local journalism, which is expensive to produce.
“In a two-person household, if a spouse loses a job, you may not be driving that Jeep Cherokee anymore, but you'll still have a Toyota,” she said.
Listener support
Dick Swenson, a Walla Walla resident of 18 years, said he and his wife have donated to NPR and PBS ever since they had any disposable income. They especially enjoy watching nature programs and shows about local and regional governance.
Swenson consumes both commercial and public media, but he believes public media does not self-censor like commercial media does. He said public broadcasting presents a thorough discussion of issues, while asking critical and hard-hitting questions.
“I think they (public media) are downright unbiased,” Swenson said. “I think they try very hard to present positive and negative arguments on every topic.”
Explore Together Event At The Walla Walla Center for Children and Families
At the Instrument Petting Zoo, Axelle, 6, keeps her eyes on the Walla Walla Symphony volunteer at the Explore Together event sponsored by Northwest Public Broadcasting at The Walla Walla Center for Children and Families, Saturday, April 20, 2024.
He said he and his wife donate a little over $2,000 each year to NPR and PBS.
Krista Meyer, a College Place resident, has been hooked onto public broadcasting since she started watched Sesame Street as a kid. Decades later, her children watched the same show, along with others that she said were both entertaining and educational, teaching kids to be curious and work through challenges in healthy ways.
“They (the programs) are publicly funded, and as a result they bring completely different educational broad interests that are not as profit driven as the corporate channels,” Meyer said in an emailed comment.
Today, her regard for public broadcasting remains unchanged. She listens to News Hour every evening, alongside some commercial networks. She said the difference between the two is interesting "because News Hour tries really hard to just keep it as factual as possible."
While she believes that no one can be entirely unbiased, she said the reporting done by public media is educational and as informed as humanly possible.
She said she is devastated and angry about the cuts because she believes they will limit the spread of factual information to the public.
“And they’re doing it on purpose,” Meyer said, referring to Congress. She has been donating to NWPB for several years.
Ramella said the network is now more dependent than ever on listener donations.
“We are very humble,” she said. “We will take $1 from every person who listens, and we will probably be OK.”
She added that the largest source of their funding is underwriting — financial support from businesses and listeners.
Who is public media serving?
White House officials said the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense, according to The Associated Press. Spokane Public Radio reported earlier this month that the cuts were backed by U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who said public media does not present all viewpoints.
Baumgartner, who represents Walla Walla County, told SPR news: "I certainly appreciate public radio and public television, and I’m a consumer myself. But at a time that America is spending $7 trillion on the back of $5 trillion in revenue and that we have a 20% budget deficit, $37 trillion in debt, we just have to look at spending prioritization."
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, cuts to public broadcasting amount only to about 0.01% of the $6.75 trillion the federal government spent in fiscal year 2024.
Ramella said NWPB receives just as much criticism from liberals — who claim it serves as a mouthpiece for the Trump administration — as it does from conservatives who think it covers abortion and transgender rights too much.
"Public broadcasting was positioned so we could do this fair, trusted reporting and not worry that our federal government was going to bite us,” Ramella said.
She believes public broadcasting was created because deeply researched, educational content “simply doesn’t make a whole lot of money.” Unlike commercial media, which is financially viable because of corporate backing and paid advertisements, public broadcasting is a nonprofit, she said.
“It (public broadcasting) needs to fund itself, but it is restricted from taking money from Chevron and making a positive documentary about Chevron,” Ramella said.
Anna King, a senior correspondent and special projects lead, has worked in public broadcasting since 2007. Her favorite part of the job is reporting in remote and rural communities to share their stories on a national platform.
“We serve largely rural communities that are news deserts or have very small newsrooms,” King said.
In 2022, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania reported on a study that shows how public media can strengthen democracies. Strong public media systems can create increased civic engagement and a more well-informed political culture and can help maintain a healthy democratic society, the study says.
"If you pay for Netflix, if you pay for Apple TV, if you pay for The New York Times, think about public media," King said in her message to the consumers of public broadcasting. "And if you listen to or consume public media, there are real people making those programs and assembling that news for you. It's real livelihoods that are on the line here. It would be wonderful if you would support us the way you support those other services where you get your news, information and entertainment."
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