Little Rock radio stations weighing programming future amid Trump's cuts to public broadcasting like NPR, PBS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Under President Donald Trump's executive order that was signed last Thursday it restricts federal funding from going to the national organizations of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.
For local public radio stations here in Little Rock like KUAR and KLRE, their funding could be impacted by the grants that are issued from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
'Most stations use that grant to pay for programming and the bulk of our programming comes from NPR,' Little Rock Public Radio General Manager Jonathan Seaborn said.
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Restrictions on funding handed down by the Trump administration, Seaborn said, would mean they would still receive money from the CPB, but it would not be used to pay for programming.
'We would have to figure out in our budget what to use those funds from CPB for,' Seaborn said. 'Because there are still restrictions.'
Seaborn said a certain percentage of those funds would have to be used for national programming, potentially leaving the door open for the station to pay for programming from American Public Media or Public Radio Exchange, but they could not be used for NPR programming directly.
The bulk of the station's budget, for the most part, comes from small dollar donations from their members. Making up 50 to 60 percent of the money they take in.
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Seaborn said they receive around $160,000 in federal funding annually which makes up 10 percent of their budget. He also said the station has already received their money for the fiscal year and they wouldn't be impacted until the next fiscal year.
'Whether we could or couldn't spend that money,' Seaborn said. 'We've seen impoundment with other organizations and if something like that happens with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that would impact when we would get those funds and how we spend them.'
If things 'got tight' and the station struggled to collect donations to support programming the decisions on programming cuts, services and affiliations would all be on the table, Seaborn said.
'They all have degrees of pain, some of them very painful, some not as much but it is currently a season of planning,' Seaborn said.
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Seaborn said if a funding cut was handed down, the station would be left to decide which shows audiences respond the best to as to which they could not afford to cut, outside of their anchor core shows.
The complications for stations like KUAR, Seaborn said, is then filling the time on-air for a show that they would no longer be able to support without the federal grant funding.
'I guess we could run repeats, but then there's a lot less of a value to our listener if you're hearing the same programming,' Seaborn said.
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As the station strategizes for any potential shortfalls in funding, over the short and long term and to keep the 'quality and frequency' of programming Seaborn said they're going to need to 'look to our members to make up that gap.'
'Beyond that we would be looking into any opportunities for corporate support, whether that's underwriting, show sponsorship whatever it may be,' Seaborn said.
Seaborn said roughly 20 percent of NPR stations across the nation serve a community where they are the only local new stations available. So if, or when, these cuts go through some communities, he said, would be left with no local public radio news.
'Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds are weighted,' Seaborn said. 'While we may receive ten percent of our budget from CPB, those rural small stations are receiving 20 to 30 percent of their budget through CPB.'
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Seaborn said donations from the public will be critical this next year, and he encourages anyone interested in joining their push to stay on air to Protect My Public Media. An organization that provides tools, resources and an outlet for advocacy for public media broadcasting stations.
'NPR exists to be free to all and to serve that public, but it needs donations to survive and I'm aware there are people who can give large amounts and there's people who are giving five dollars and it's just as meaningful and just as helpful,' Seaborn said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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