Well, the landscape of public media once again changed this month following massive federal funding cuts last fall.

After 58 years of service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has officially voted to end operations.

There's still a lot of confusion over what that means.

So to clear that up, joining us once again as WCMU, General Manager, Rick Westover.

- Hello.

- Rick, thank you for being here.

- Of course.

- Can you give us an update on what all that specifically what happened with the CPB and also what it means for WCMU?

- Sure, I appreciate the opportunity because there's a lot of confusion out there about all these different monikers, CPB, NPR, PBS, what do they all mean?

So the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was formed, as you mentioned, 58 years ago, to distribute federal funding that was set aside for public broadcasting, and they've done that faithfully for years, generations.

However, with the elimination of federal funding through the rescission last year, they didn't really have a purpose anymore.

They've worked in the last several months to release what funding they still had available.

In fact, we benefited from being awarded a grant to hire a rural life and agriculture reporter.

We're in the process of hiring that position right now.

Very thankful for that.

And also very thankful for the folks at CPB who have worked under incredible pressure knowing that they've essentially been pushed out of their positions and yet faithfully working for our communities, the country, to disperse what dollars they have left and then making the difficult decision to dissolve themselves as an organization simply because they had nothing left to do once that funding is gone.

So that's part of it.

I wanna make clear that CPB is not responsible for creating programming.

They provided funding to stations so that people like WCMU can step forward and create local programs like Pressing Matters or Quiz Central, Destination Michigan, things like that.

So we are responsible for producing our local content, and then we get national programming from PBS.

They work to bring us programs that are shared across the country.

We pay dues to PBS, we have access to those programs to share with our audience.

Same thing works for NPR on the radio side of everything.

- Yeah.

- So wanna be clear, CPB, yes.

Going away because they don't have a function anymore in dispersing funds.

They don't exist.

For WCMU, that was $1.6 million lost for this fiscal year, 20% of our operating budget.

So we have work ahead of us to fill that gap, but the fact that CPB is going away does not mean that we're going anywhere.

- Thank you.

That's great to hear, and I definitely hope that it brings you some answers too.

So if the funding then doesn't come from CPB.

- [Rick] Sure.

- How are those gaps being filled?

- So we are working very hard to identify savings where we can.

We've saved over a quarter million dollars in some of those national programming costs.

Negotiating with PBS, NPR.

We have the Create channel that's actually being made available in FY26, fiscal year 26 for free to the station.

You might have heard in the news about Bob Ross estate providing some paintings that were then auctioned off.

That auction made it possible for every station that carries Create across the country to do so for free.

So it's thinking outside the box, doing creative things on the national level and here locally to make up some of that gap, but, you know, who's most important, as always, viewers like you doing your part in stepping forward and giving what you can.

We made our way halfway through our fiscal year, which started July one at the end of December, and I am so happy to say we are year over year about 50% ahead of where we were last year.

Last year, donors provided us $3.2 million.

$1.6 million was lost.

That's half of what we raised last year from our donors.

So to run at 50% ahead right now, we're on track just in donor support alone to erase that gap.

Now I realize fundraising's gonna slow down a little bit in January and February.

This is not guaranteed, but we're on a good trajectory to make up that lost funding from our donors, and so it's very important when folks step forward and give a gift, we are so thankful.

It means more than ever before.

Thank you.

- It's wild, and you're right, we are so grateful how for the fact of how our viewers, how our listeners, and our supporters have stepped up during this really, really kind of a chaotic time for public media.

- We're all figuring it out.

Yeah.

- Yeah, we are.

So what are some goals that here at WCMU that we are kind of focusing on here for 2026?

- So, one major goal, and I talked about fundraising, it's so important to us right now.

We set a goal early in July to identify 3000 new monthly sustaining members to WCMU.

What does that mean?

If you've never given to the station before, but you have the means to give $5, $10, $25, $50 a month, whatever you can fit into your budget, it certainly works for us.

Consider joining us at that monthly giving level.

If you've given $100 this year and $100 that year, if you can convert your giving to monthly consistent support, it means a lot to us because in a time when we've lost 20% of our operating budget, consistent monthly support provides something for us to plan against.

It provides us some stability in uncertain times.

So that's our goal.

3000 new monthly sustaining members.

Think about joining us in that way.

If you are a sustaining member now, we appreciate you so much.

Thank you for what you're doing and literally any donation we're appreciative of, of course, but a goal, 3000 new monthly donors.

- Well, can you tell us about the impact that we've seen from the viewers like you at home who are watching us right now?

- You're making everything that you're seeing possible.

You know, 20% gap in funding is a huge obstacle to overcome.

And we are doing it day-by-day, donation by donation.

You have such an impact.

And now more than ever, you know, it's become cliche to say now more than ever, we've said it before rescission happened, but rescission is here now, and it just makes us bold and underline and highlight those words.

Viewer support means more than ever before.

- Definitely, and for someone at home sitting watching our conversation right now and they're like, I wanna help.

I wanna do- what can I do?

What can I do?

- You can reach out through our website, wcmu.org and click on the donate button, offer your support.

We have our spring campaigns coming up.

If you wanna offer your support, then make a little plan for it in about a month.

Join us monthly.

You can give us a call toll free to offer up that support.

And you can also, if you're interested on the front regarding federal funding, Protect My Public Media is an important site.

You can find more information there about what you can do.

I will tell you, there is a window of opportunity for some federal funding.

Both a committee on the US House side, US Senate side have included NGWS funds in their appropriations bills.

That's next generation warning system, the EAS alerts, and so on that we provide when there's a tornado or flood or whatever that might be.

This is important support that can help public media stations, so there is a window of opportunity for some federal funding to possibly come back in the FY26 appropriation bills.

- So that's a really good point.

There are still efforts continue help provide some type of funding relief for public media stations.

- Correct, so protect my public media is a great place to learn more about that effort and what you can do to play a part.

- Absolutely.

Okay.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

Thank you again.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for joining us and keeping us all up to date on what is happening because you're right, it's confusing and people still have a lot of questions.

- Yeah, they do.

They do.

CPB, yes is going away, but we are not going anywhere because of viewers like you.

- Thank you, Rick, and that wraps up our edition tonight of Pressing Matters here on WCMU.

Thank you again for watching and for continuing to support us here and now.

Now and in the future.

Good night.

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