In July, Congress approved a plan to pull back already allocated tax money that included more than $1 billion for public broadcasters NPR and PBS. The vote, which took place after a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds, ended a decades-long arrangement with the outlets and ended streams of international aid. As a result, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in operation since November 1967, will be shutting its operations. (This does not mean that CPB-funded programs and stations are closing.)
While the dissemination of local and regional news will be negatively affected when money dries up this fall, both organizations also program a range of jazz content. NPR partner stations across the country broadcast the music to millions of listeners every day and PBS helped produce the 2001 Ken Burns’s documentary Jazz.
The down-river effects of these cuts are considerable. When the arts and journalism market contracts even further, morale plummets and livelihoods are affected. Less jazz on the air means less jazz in the culture at large, and a more challenging, less receptive environment for magazines such as this one.
According to Protect My Public Media, public media funding is currently, until this fall, 0.01 percent of the federal budget. Not every station received the same amount of annual federal funding, creating a patchwork of different fiscal scenarios for each local partner station.
WRTI, which has been broadcasting to Philadelphia audiences for more than 70 years, has a yearly budget of $4.7 million. William Johnson, WRTI’s general manager, said the station’s set to lose out on about $700,000 — though by the end of July donors contributed about $130,000 to bridge the gap.
“We know the cultural significance of jazz and classical music far exceed the philanthropic support they traditionally receive and we look at this loss as an opportunity to tell the story of this timeless music and why it both resonates and is essential across generations,” Johnson wrote in a statement to JazzTimes. “Just as important it’s an opportunity to explain the unique role public broadcasting plays in stewarding this music on-air, on stages, in classrooms, and online; keeping it freely available for everyone in our community.”
The Newark, New Jersey, station WBGO produces Jazz Night in America — which features in-depth interviews with a range of performers — in cooperation with NPR.
Steven A. Williams, president and CEO of the station, did not respond to emails seeking comment. In June, he published in a statement prior to the vote rescinding funding, saying that he remained optimistic about the station’s future.
He recalled past difficulties, but referred to the station as an “unsinkable vessel.”
“Over the years, when our future was clouded with uncertainty, your enthusiastic support has provided clarity of purpose,” he wrote, directly addressing station members and donors. “As just one example, during the COVID-19 recession, we raised more than a million dollars in just a couple of months’ time — and a record-breaking quarter of a million dollars in a single day.”
According to the most recently available 990 filing, WBGO operated at a $739,000 deficit in 2023.
To help replace lost revenue, former NPR employee Alex Curley created Adopt a Station — a tool to connect potential donors with local outlets. JT