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Questions and Answers about WFIT’s Federal Funding from CPB

Click here to visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and learn how you can take a stand for the local stations and programs you love.

WFIT is part of a community of 1,300 independently managed public radio stations and funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB for short. Together, we cover 99% of America and provide our listeners with free and accessible programming.

We know that you love the news programs on WFIT like Morning Edition, All Things Considered. Our music discovery programs like FM Odyssey, Keller Radio and our weekday music are important to you too. And don’t forget our public service programs like Coastal Connections and the Lagoon Minute.

You may not always think about some of the programming we air, like timely and lifesaving emergency alerts during storms and other events. We bring them to you with the help of the public radio satellite system and the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network.

Public media funding is going to be talked about a lot in the next year. In fact, eliminating CPB funding is written into Project 2025 and was specifically called out by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in a November op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

How Does CPB Work?

CPB was created by Congress through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It’s a private corporation with its own board of directors, which are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. CPB is distinct from NPR and PBS and does not own, operate or manage any public media stations. It does not produce any programming either.

Congress appropriates CPB’s funding and, by statute, CPB delivers 89% of that appropriation directly to public radio and televisions stations. The President approves the appropriations bill containing CPB funding. A small amount is granted to program producers like NPR and PBS to develop programming. No more than 5% can be used as overhead for CPB.

Why does public media need CPB funding?

CPB funding enables stations across the country to create and air important programming and services. If federal funding is eliminated, public media could be forced to eliminate things like:

· Educational programming

· Emergency communications during natural disasters like hurricanes.

· Resources for teachers and other educators

· Music and cultural programming, the majority of WFIT’s schedule

· Local news and the staff that makes that programming leaving many communities around the country with no source of community news.

One note, smaller markets depend more heavily on CPB funding. WFIT is a small market station. Rural stations would be more profoundly affected too. Many of them could go off the air entirely.

CPB also pays for the rights for public radio stations to air and stream music. CPB has negotiated lower rates for public media. If funding were to go away, individual stations would most likely have to pay these fees directly at much higher rates.

CPB’s current appropriation is $535 million or just $1.08 per American.

What Happens to WFIT if CPB funding goes away?

While listener support and program sponsorships make up the majority of our funding, we couldn’t provide our current level of service or maintain our local programming.

WFIT’s CPB funding in fiscal year 25 is $133,000 or about 23% of this year’s budget. We would turn to our listeners and corporate supporters to help make up the shortfall. However, that’s a pretty big percentage of our budget and we would be hard pressed to maintain our current staffing level or all of the programs we air.

What would happen to NPR and PBS?

If stations in smaller communities were to shut down, NPR and PBS would receive less money in the form of membership and programming fees. Larger stations could also cut national programs in an attempt to maintain their local news and cultural services. This would make it harder for NPR and PBS to cover stories in smaller communities because of the reduction in network stations.

How can I help ensure continued federal funding for public media and WFIT?

You can visit protectmypublicmedia.org for resources to contact members of Congress and let them know how you feel about Federal Funding for Public Media. You can also tell your friends why WFIT and all of public radio and TV is important to you.

Thank you for listening and supporting public radio, television and WFIT.

I've spent 20 plus years in public media and I'm recognized as a transformational non-profit leader.