Latest news with #WUNC
Axios
30-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
NPR cuts could weigh on North Carolina's largest public radio stations
North Carolina's largest public radio stations — WFAE and WUNC, which serve Charlotte and the Triangle, respectively — get hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from the federal government. Absent those funds, the stations may have to scale back their offerings. Why it matters: A federal halt of funding for public radio stations, as the Trump administration has proposed, could affect how some communities access local news and information — from what their state lawmakers are doing to alerts from the emergency broadcast system. Catch up quick: Earlier this month, President Trump issued an executive order to halt federal support for NPR and PBS, calling the two biggest public broadcasters in the U.S. "biased." The latest: NPR and several affiliates on Tuesday announced they're suing the Trump administration over the executive order to curtail their funding. By the numbers: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting allocates about $535 million in federal funding annually to NPR and PBS, including to local stations. Zoom in: WFAE and WUNC each get about $800,000 annually from the federal government, according to station leaders. These funds are both direct, meaning they're matching funds based on how much revenue the stations generate; and indirect, which refers to shared public radio infrastructure and support like music licensing. These funds represent about 5% of the stations' budgets. Between the lines: The biggest expenses for these stations are personnel and programming. NPR affiliates are required to carry expensive programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, but other smaller programs are ones that stations can elect to pay for and broadcast. "When those [federal] dollars go away it means we're cutting into those core offerings we have in some way," WFAE president and CEO Ju-Don Marshall tells Axios. "We're certainly concerned." Context: Station heads say a cut in federal funding would prompt them to turn to their communities to help make up for the shortfall. Fund drives are the top sources of dollars for the station, says WUNC president and general Paul Hunton. Given uncertainties in the broader economy, it's not a guarantee that they'd be able to make up the entire shortfall, however. "Everybody's a bit tentative now in how they spend their dollars," Hunton added. Zoom out: WFAE's signal reaches 32 counties across the Carolinas, and WUNC can be heard from the Triad to the Outer Banks. Many of the communities they serve are considered news deserts, meaning they lack reliable local news and information from sources like a newspapers. In many rural areas, public radio is the only source of reliable information. Case in point: During Hurricane Helene when communities in western North Carolina lost power and Internet, many relied on just public radio for updates like when the water was coming back on, Hunton says. "It truly was a lifeline for many people in North Carolina," he tells Axios.
Axios
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Axios
A look inside blue blood programs
If you're like us and can't get enough of basketball lately, two journalists, WUNC's "Due South" host Jeff Tiberii and co-author Mark Mehler have a new book out. "The Magnificent Seven: College Basketball's Blue Bloods" is about how college the NCAA's blue bloods — Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, and the University of Connecticut — have established themselves as "American basketball royalty."
Axios
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Axios
Local Limelight with WUNC's Jeff Tiberi
For NPR fans in the Triangle, journalist Jeff Tiberi's voice may sound familiar. A longtime North Carolina journalist turned host of WUNC's "Due South," Tiberi is a fixture of our region's media landscape. He's also a college basketball fanatic. Driving the news: Just in time for March Madness, Tiberi and fellow journalist Mark Meher are out with a new book, "The Magnificent Seven: College Basketball's Blue Bloods," on how the teams have established themselves as "American basketball royalty." Order it here for a signed copy ($26.95), and get the details on an event featuring the authors coming up on April 6. We talked with Tiberi for our latest Local Limelight conversation. The Q&A has been edited for Smart Brevity. 🍽️ Favorite place to eat in the Triangle? Sassool (Strickland Rd location). ✈️ What do you think the Triangle is missing? A direct flight to Italy. 📱 What's your first read in the morning? Usually tapping on some alert or news update that has broken/developed overnight. 📖 Last great book you read?"The Anxious Generation," by Jonathan Haidt. 🎧 Go-to podcast? "All The Smoke." 🏀 Would you consider yourself a college basketball fanatic? If that's a serious question and I suspect it is marginally so, I would respond by telling you that one of my favorite teams was the 1996 UMass Minutemen. A team that, of course, has not been assembled for near 30 years. And I'd tell you their starting five consisted of Marcus Camby, Donta Bright, Dana Dingle, Carmelo Travieso, and Edgar Padilla. What's neat about Padilla and Travieso is that they were the starting back court, and happened to be born in Puerto Rico on the same day in the same Hospital. Why do I remember that? Well I guess that's the answer to your question. ⛰️ Favorite place to go for a long weekend? Our cabin in Blowing Rock. ❤️🩹 Do you have any pets? What kind? What are their names? Our cat, Kiki, aka, Professor Kiki Foster died on Valentine's Day. She had been with us for 13 years. We miss her. 🚙 How did you end up in the Triangle? In early 2015 I was reassigned to cover the NCGA. So, after eight-and-a-half years in Winston-Salem I headed east. 📆 If you could pass any law, what would it be? I'd create a state holiday for the opening Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Men's Tournament (Round of 64). All government buildings and schools would close at noon. (Tobacco Road Days?) 🧳 What's something you're looking forward to, unrelated to politics/your work? We're going to Memphis later this spring. I've never been.
