LPM’s Bill Burton talked with the president and CEO of Louisville Public Media, Kenya Young, about the potential fallout ahead of a planned Senate committee meeting Wednesday.
Bill Burton: The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a rescission for $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Senate will now take up the issue after the July 4 holiday. To discuss what those funding cuts could mean for Public Radio, I'm joined by the President and CEO of Louisville Public Media, Kenya Young. Kenya, it is great to talk with you.
Kenya Young: Hey, it's great to be here, Bill.
BB: If the Senate does approve this funding rescission, it'll affect every public radio station in the country, including us here at LPM, but it could be absolutely devastating to public radio stations in rural parts of the country. That federal funding is a large percentage of the money that they need to operate those stations. Are we talking about just limiting programming for them, or are we talking about something that could even just eliminate those stations entirely?
KY: Every station has a different situation that they're facing with this, which is why it's so crucial. One of the things I said, I have a long history, career at NPR and at other stations. I've worked with stations across the system. ... I'm glad that I can be included in that part now, in that group now, but there's a real collective effort and understanding that this just is not about our own station. This is about the system writ large. This is about public media as we know it.
Do I mean, then, that public media as we know it is going to disappear? No. But public media as we know it, what we know of it, how it has traditionally been, which is serving audiences across the country, mostly, as you mentioned, a lot of these rural stations in rural areas where a public media station is the community station. It is the only station in the area. There's been a lot of argument. As you mentioned, it passed that House last week and is moving on to the Senate floor. Before it goes to the Senate floor, it's going to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing to discuss this.
BB: This funding clawback could also affect the Emergency Alert System, which, of course, warns people about possible disasters like tornadoes. Has the House or Senate done anything in regards to how they would handle the EAS?
KY: That I don't know, and of course, that's going to be different state by state. What I do know is that they have taken this into consideration. My hope is that they will continue to take this into consideration. Actually, before I even started, I was put to work a little bit before I started here at LPM, because I was up on the Hill the last week before I came in in mid-May, talking to our congressional leaders, our House representatives, our Senate offices, about this very specific thing. I do think they understand the conversation.
BB: So we have the hearing coming up very soon. The Senate will pick it up again after the Fourth of July holiday, and they have until July 18 to make this decision?
KY: That's correct, and obviously eyes are all on this hearing. We'll see what happens. There's a couple of options that could happen after this. It could be that it does not move on. It could be that they're making amendments, which means it would have to go back to the House for another vote. It could be that it does pass on. So there's a lot of options. We're watching very closely, and we will see what this means for the next step, if it heads over to a Senate vote between July 4 and July 18.
BB: There are a lot of moving parts involved in this, and we, of course, will keep a close eye on this to keep you informed. Kenya Young is the president and CEO of Louisville Public Media. Kenya, thank you so much for the information and your time.
KY: Absolutely. It's been a delight to be here, come any time.
This transcript was edited for clarity.
