On Capitol Hill today, the heads of America's public media networks.

They inform, they educate, they unite communities.

But now public media stations across the country, including right here in Pennsylvania, are facing the biggest financial threat in decades.

I'll spend all of my time doing everything I can to ensure you guys never get another dollar of taxpayer funding.

This is complete garbage.

What happens when the government pulls the plug on funding for PBS?

NPR and local public media.

Who steps in and what could we lose tonight on this community conversation broadcast in the balance.

We go behind the headlines to meet the people fighting to preserve public media and the programs that serve millions.

A loss like this would greatly impact us and our educational programs.

For some outlets, this is more than a budget line.

It's a lifeline, and it's on the line right now.

Coming to you live from the universal Public Media Center in Bethlehem, PA.

Here's your host, Britney.

Sweeney.. Good evening and welcome to our community Conversation broadcast in the balance, presented by PBS 39 over radio 91.3 FM and Lehigh Valley News.com.

The financial foundation of public media is now under serious threat both nationwide and across Pennsylvania.

In Washington, the GOP led House narrowly approved a $9.4 billion rescissions package on June 12th, aimed in part at clawing back approximately $1.1 billion in previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB.

The funding stream that supports NPR, PBS and over 1500 local stations.

This loss of funds previously allocated by an Act of Congress follows a May 1st executive order by President Trump, directing the CPB to halt federal support for NPR and PBS.

Recent House hearings about cutting federal funds for public broadcasting, PBS and NPR presented stark contrasts between Republicans and Democrats those in support of cuts, the cutting the service of.

They accused the services of political bias, a liberal agenda, an irrelevance amid changes in how media is consumed.

Advocates for funding spoke of surveys showing popular support for PBS and NPR and long standing trust, especially in PBS children's programing such as Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Sesame Street and Mr.

Rogers Neighborhood.

Here's a Capitol Hill recap of those debates.

Rural communities will be the hardest hit, not to mention our kids.

There is a reason the American people support continuing these investments by a 2 to 1 margin.

NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical left wing echo chambers for a narrow audience.

Recent independent polling found that more than 60% of all Americans and more than half of Republicans, trust public broadcasting to deliver fact based news.

72% of the coverage of the GOP convention was negative.

88% of the Democratic convention was positive.

A large majority of Americans say they trust PBS, and that's exactly why extremists are trying to tear it down.

A media entity like MSNBC or Huffington Post that, in my opinion, consistently spews disinformation.

They can do that.

That's they're a private company, but NPR gets federal funding.

We have Sesame Street now streaming on private services.

So the taxpayer is now subsidizing for profit companies.

The reason they canceled it is because it wasn't making a profit, because when you try to do Daniel Tiger or Sesame Street and you try to do what Mr.

Rogers was talking about, helping the emotional and social development of kids, it's not easy.

You got to hire people who are child psychologists.

You have to hire people who are educationalists.

A lot goes into this.

And HBO said, you know what?

It's not making money.

Technology has changed everything.

We are not living.

In 1967.

There are various options for people to get news and to get disinformation or information, whatever you want to get.

Studies have shown how important these programs are for children's learning.

And it doesn't work when you just say they can go and get it at Netflix because Netflix costs money.

Public broadcasting belongs to the public and is free.

I'll spend all of my time doing everything I can to ensure you guys never get another dollar of taxpayer funding.

This is complete garbage.

And now what we're doing is to tell that working mom that's got three jobs, that's trying to make ends meet, that now.

No, you can't have that moment of break and park your kid in front of Sesame Street.

A great program that you can feel comfortable to know will help your kid when you go fix dinner.

Because you're exhausted.

This funding supports everything from emergency communications in rural areas to coverage for high school basketball championships and locally produced high school quiz show.

I understand, however, that concern about subsidizing the national radio news programing that for years has had a Discernibly Partizan and bent.

There are, however, more targeted approaches to addressing that bias, said NPR.

Then rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

That was just some of what was said at the latest hearings on the funding and to cut the funding to public media.

And we would like to note that we reached out to lawmakers across the state to join this community conversation, including Senators Dave McCormick and John Fetterman, as well as Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who serves Bucks County, Congressman Rob Bresnahan, who serves northeastern PA, and Congressman Ryan McKenzie, who serves the Lehigh Valley.

Those requests were declined or went on answered.

Across the country, there are 365 public television stations and 1200 public radio stations.

They are bracing for impacts, which could include cuts to programing, staff, emergency alerts and local journalism.

American taxpayers contribute about $1.60 annually per person, but without it, many stations could be forced to scale back severely or even shutter entirely.

Here, to talk more about the impact around the nation is National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher.

Thank you so much for joining us live via zoom this evening.

Thank you for having me.

Absolutely.

Katherine let's start with the big picture.

How significant is CPB funding to NPR and the public radio ecosystem across the country?

How does it all work?

Well, it is a little complicated to do.

Please bear with me.

But the critical thing to know is that CPB funding is most essential for local public stations, whether television or radio.

70% of funding goes directly to local stations at an organization like NPR, we represent less than 2% of funding allocated for radio.

So really this impact is direct to your local station.

It is direct to the broadcasting and the reporting that happens to support for cultural programing.

And that's the sort of thing that we want our lawmakers to understand is that this will directly impact their communities, it will directly impact jobs, and it will directly impact the ability of their constituents to know what's going on around them.

And so, Katherine, what would immediate or long term cuts to CPB funding mean for local NPR member stations, particularly in those rural or underserved areas, especially some areas here in Pennsylvania?

Yeah, I mean, I think that the most immediate impact would be to rural communities, communities where local media as a whole has really diminished over the course of the last two decades.

We've seen so many newspapers across the country go out of business.

We recognize that 1 in 5 Americans lives in the news desert.

Other than public media.

And so if we start to see cuts to federal funding for public media, we will see stations that serve rural communities that do not necessarily have an economic basis for their service, but in fact are supported by federal funding.

They may have to contract, they may have to lay off local journalists, or they may have to stop providing universal service.

Right now, public radio reaches 99.7% of Americans across the country, including coverage for areas that are traditionally very difficult to be able to serve.

Places that don't currently have broadband access or even cell phone service.

And yet, we are always on and always available and always free.

And so these impacts would really hurt rural communities.

Anybody who does not pay to subscribe to a news service or television service.

And that's what we're trying to fight against.

Sure.

You're talking about local journalism.

Oftentimes NPR national partners with local stations to produce those in-depth local journalism pieces.

So how could these funding cuts affect that collaboration and, by extension, the ability of communities to have access to that news source?

I mean, I think that this is one of the most important parts of what public radio does is it supports nearly 3000 local journalists across the country, people who are there with you, covering education, covering your local economy, covering your statehouse, the decisions of state legislators in ways that other outlets simply can't or won't.

Certainly at the national level.

There are very few national media outlets that actually have people in the statehouse, and that is something that we do everyday day in and day out.

NPR has invested very heavily in working with local stations to make sure that we have collaboration with the reporting on the ground.

You know your communities better than anyone, and we want to make sure that we're bringing your voices to the national conversation so that when something happens in the country, you're hearing directly from the people who it affects.

We work with more than six regional newsrooms as well, to ensure that communities that are underserved generally by news, have access to information that's specific to their region, whether we're talking the Gulf states or whether we're talking the Mountain West, in order to make sure that issues that really matter, whether we're things like drought and water rights or things like severe weather events, are covered in ways that really respect and are sensitive to what's going on in your backyard.

Sure, a little history here.

The CPB created NPR more than 50 years ago to offer news, information and cultural programing.

But now there are so many ways to get that content.

So the question is by many, why should the federal governmen Well, I want to come back to the idea that the federal government is not subsidizing NPR significantly.

We receive a very small percentage of our funding, 1% from CPB at NPR itself.

And that funding actually goes to support the reporting that we wouldn't be able to necessarily do without it.

So our international coverage.

Just in the last few months, we've had reporters in Ukraine and Moscow.

We've had reporters in Israel and Iran that kind of coverage telling Americans what's happening in the world around them, what's happening with their members of the military deployed overseas is expensive, and that is what federal funding works to support, as well as local elections in your backyard.

We had a really big team working with our Pennsylvania base stations over the course of the last election to understand what was on the mind of voters across across the state, but specifically for local coverage.

We're actually talking about broader intangible impacts.

So one of the things that Americans are really proud of is their local music traditions, whether we're talking about bluegrass or jazz or New Orleans brass bands.

If federal funding goes away, so too will the ability for us to have local, noncommercial music stations, which are often critical to supporting that cultural heritage that makes this country really great and diverse and representative of the people that we are.

Because we won't have the funding to be able to afford to pay for those music fees.

So the impacts on all of this are significant.

You know, for public television, we recognize it has already had an impact on children's educational programing, with $30 million cut out of the budget of production of programs like Daniel Tiger, for example, through a Ready to Learn grant.

This directly impacts you no matter who you are, no matter where you live.

It's not subsidizing.

It's supporting our country.

It's supporting our citizens.

It's supporting our communities.

And we're going to talk more about the Ready to Learn funding, locally in just a little bit.

In the meantime, you mentioned elections and voting.

So could CPB cuts erode the watchdog function of local public media when it comes to these elections and voters?

One of the things that I learned recently is that when you have local journalism in your community, in your city, in your town, you actually are able to issue public bonds, that is, raise money or borrow money to be able to invest in local services with at a lower cost.

Because ratings agencies view public journalism as a way of ensuring greater accountability, efficiency of the use of dollars and lower corruption.

So, quite literally, we are a return on investment in your community.

It makes being able to do good things for your community less expensive by having local journalism there.

So yes, there would be an immediate impact, not just on voting and political participation, but on the economic lifeblood of what matters in your hometown.

But it is also true that where local journalism exists, citizens tend to be less polarized.

We trust each other more because we have more opportunities to hear from one another and talk about the things that matter in our hometowns, how we want to raise our children, how we want to be able to think about investing in our schools, our local economy.

And that would go away where local media goes away.

We see lower rates of voter participation and higher mistrust of government.

I don't think that's an outcome that any of us in America want.

All right, let's go back to the more national scale of things.

Bias in media.

It's what critics say.

Critics of NPR say it promotes a left wing view and supports one political party on the taxpayer's dime.

So how do you respond to that?

Absolutely not.

We are not a nonpartisan organization.

We support no political party, and we report on all political activity with the same high journal standards and ethics for our journalism.

It is the case that public radio is very large and covers many parts of the country, and there are many producers for public radio.

Some communities that are, for example, serving larger cities, may produce programing that meets the needs of their citizens.

Communities in rural parts of America or conservative parts of America do the very same.

It is that vast texture of our country that is reflected locally.

It is why local control and local programing is such a critical piece of the national public media and public radio network.

And we believe that that is how we serve the nation through what it is that people are looking for, for their news, information and cultural programing.

But at NPR, we are nonpartisan.

We do not promote any sort of biased coverage and we do not support any political party.

And we are talking to Katherine Ma, CEO of NPR.

And so NPR is suing President Trump over his executive order to cut federal funding to NPR and PBS.

Is the lawsuit about preserving the existence of public media?

Is it about the broader issue of government interference with free press?

Can you explain to those at home who may not know what's the basis of this lawsuit, or is it a little bit of both?

Well, I would want to start by saying to a viewers at home that it's really important to understand that PBS and NPR, neither of us chose to go into suing the government with any great enthusiasm.

We want to be able to have a positive working relationship with this administration and with Congress.

And so we do not take these decisions lightly.

However, as a journalism organization, we also know it's our obligation to defend the First Amendment.

As citizens, we recognize that importance as well.

And so this really is a case about our First Amendment rights.

It's a case about Edwin Peters editorial independence.

It's also, very importantly, a case about your ability as a local public media station to decide the content that you want to air for your community.

Nobody is obligated to air NPR programing.

It is completely up to individual stations, whether they are a member of NPR and what it is that they choose to broadcast.

But this executive order in tells stations that they cannot use their funds to acquire that programing, which interferes with their right of association and their right to be an independent broadcaster.

And so, yes, this is a First Amendment issue, and it's an issue that goes well beyond public broadcasting.

It's an issue that every broadcaster, every media outlet in the country should be paying attention to and should support regardless of what your political beliefs are.

A free press is as a as American a value as it comes.

And we will always stand up for the First Amendment.

Kathryn, this threat is real.

So what can listeners do right now if they want to support public radio and advocate for continued CPB funding?

Well, first of all, thank you for your support.

What we would ask you to do is to call your elected representative.

Call your senators, both of them.

Call your member of Congress.

Call your state representatives.

All of your elected representatives have a role to play in sustaining support for public media and making sure this vital civic institution remains available to all Americans.

And if you're a member of Congress, if your senator is already a supporter of public media, ask them to reach out to a colleague who maybe has some concerns and communicate why it is that this matters.

It's so important that people don't understand this is something that is a policy fight, but is really about all of us is neighbors and citizens valuing something that America values, and has done so for more than 50 years.

It's a vital civic institution in our lives and in our nation.

National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher.

Thank you so much for answering those questions and joining us for this program.

Thank you for having me.

With a Senate expected to vote by mid-July, public media leaders warn of existential threats to stations and the communities that they serve.

If enacted, station leaders say these cuts could dismantle critical infrastructure local emergency alert systems, children's educational programs, community reporting, and cultural content that currently operate almost free of charge.

Here in Pennsylvania, the stakes are equally high.

We paid a visit to the PA Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg to hear from the PBS stations around the state.

No one wants to see, funding cut for, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, NPR.

This isn't an NPR issue or a PBS issue.

This is about public media and what we bring to communities all across the nation.

We reach the entire state with our programing, and we feel so fortunate to be able to provide services to the children and to the parents and to the older adults in our state.

The fees we pay for NPR and PBS programing is about 1.5 1.6 million.

The amount of funding we get from the federal government through CPB is $1.3 million.

So it's a significant amount of money that we'll have to find some way to pay for one show or another.

We do receive about $1.4 million in community service grants through the Corporation for Public Broadcast and Funding.

We have been meeting on a weekly or even twice a week basis for how am I going to six eight weeks at this point, really to look at messaging, our value and our impact as far and as wide as we can across our coverage area?

The God's honest truth is we, the federal government, doesn't have to balance the budget.

The federal government spends trillions and trillions of dollars a year.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania only has a $50 billion budget, give or take.

And there's only so much that we're able to do with that.

And so when we're also trying to cover the cost of health care, roads and bridges, mass transit, and for me, as chair of education, our k-through-12 schools, access to higher education, pre-K, all those things are really important.

We only have so much space that we can be able to continue to do it.

We really need our partners in the federal government to actually live up to their end of the partnership.

The funding cuts that are being discussed at the federal level would have great impact on Oakland.

We rely on federal funding at 40% of our budget.

So a loss like this would greatly impact us and our educational programs.

And we just hope that the federal government and the administration will really think hard about the impact for stations like Oakland and all the stations across the nation.

We're not exactly sure what we should do other than make some difficult decisions to keep one national program or keep two local programs, or perhaps develop additional programs.

Educational programing for elementary school children gets them to think creatively, think empathetically, well-rounded education.

Last year, we were in so many classrooms that we affected over 95,000 kids in our classrooms.

We have students coming into our studio to learn how to work behind the camera, to learn how to be, making their own content, to learn how to tell their stories that are important to them.

We're working with our older population in the state of Pennsylvania to help them understand the opportunities available to them for health care, for financial literacy.

And we're also, you know, just out every day, our reporters telling the stories of what's happening in our neighborhoods.

It's our connection to the community that's going to be impacted most about a decrease or loss of federal funding.

Our mobile classroom, called the Stream Machine, goes out into the community and delivers literacy programs and stream programs to children in neighborhoods who need it the most.

And we fear cuts in federal funding might impact that program, which in turn impacts the children of our community.

So we have been looking at every platform on which we exist and messaging folks to express their support by contacting elected officials.

We've been promoting Protect My Public Media.

And really just trying to remind everyone why we are so vital to our very rural base of audience that we have across central Pennsylvania.

Smaller, more rural stations, often the sole local news source, our most vulnerable, with federal funds sometimes constituting 20 to 50% of the budget or more.

So what does that look like for an individual station and the surrounding community?

And eastern PA Lehigh Valley Public media and WVIA, as well as WPSU and central PA, are all set to lose around 20% of their operating budgets, while DIY, an NPR radio affiliate in the Lehigh Valley, is set to lose about 15%.

Joining us now to break it down is via chief Development officer Kate Sickora.

DIY 88.1 FM executive director Margaret McConnell and Lehigh Valley News Lehigh Valley Public Media's vice president of news Jim Deegan.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

You.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

And let's start.

We just kind of touched upon the numbers, but let's get into that a little bit more.

Kate from WVIA, if you could start what portion of your budget is at risk and what does that look like for your local programing?

First of all, thank you for doing this topic.

And thank you to all your viewers who care enough to pay attention to this issue.

It is an existential threat at Iowa.

It is 20% of our budget.

We are a $6.5 million operating budget.

So that is 20% of 1.2 million.

And what's at stake is all the amazing community programs and services that we provide to Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

If we were to lose this funding, many of our programs would have to be cut back or reduced altogether.

So we are very concerned and hoping that we can continue to have this vital federal funding support our PBS, NPR network of sister station stations and WVIA is one of those stations that has a PBS affiliate, an NPR affiliate, and an online presence as well.

Absolutely.

We are a joint licensee, and we're licensed to the community, meaning our community owns and operates us.

And we are proud to say that we are community supported, as well as receiving that 20% from the federal government.

And, Margaret, I'd like to bring you into this conversation from DIY.

What portion of your operating budget is at risk and what does that look like for your NPR affiliate?

Yeah, so we're as you said earlier, 15% of our budget comes from CPB.

That allows us to pay for the NPR programing and also produce some of our own programing.

So, we air six hours a day of NPR news.

We would if we could not find a way to pay for that fund, to pay for that ourselves.

To bring in that additional revenue.

We're looking at having to fill a six hours of airtime every day.

Our airtime is a curated and hosted by this community, by volunteers.

We have hundreds of volunteers.

It's amazing.

We need more so.

And we need to also be able to produce more of that programing in-house.

So it would mean staff time.

And, our staff has already working three jobs each person.

And so that's what would be at risk.

You'd need to grow your staff to fill that time.

Right.

That would be longer to find the volunteers.

Sure.

Funding.

Jim, what does that look like at Lehigh Valley Public Media?

At Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Our numbers, are very similar to WBA.

About a dollar of every $5 that we receive and get, comes from CPB funding, that CPB funding is used for, a number of things.

Some of it we use to, purchase our, our PBS, dues and fees and, and the programing that comes with that, whether it's finding a roots or a masterpiece or, you know, cooking shows that you might see on our create channel.

And then another chunk of that funding is used for operating costs within our building, whether that's, you know, helping to support payroll for the people who work here or, you know, keep the lights on through, through totality.

So, you know, it really crosses across our building.

And we use it in a number of ways.

Sure, Jim, we do have a viewer question from Donna in Whitehall, and she was asking, please give some examples of how loss of funding will impact coverage of some of the local news stories.

Does it directly impact some of the coverage that your reporters are able to cover?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think we know the answer yet as specifically if this fund if these funding cuts happen, what will that mean for our programing and our content and our resources?

But it's certainly something that we are, bracing for.

I think that's what will be cut in most significantly would be all that we produce locally.

That's not just on the news side, you know, that's what we do.

Shows like this, programs that we do during, you know, the election season debates that we have here in the studio, just like we had, you know, a couple of months ago, you know, the news, the free news service that we have through Lehigh Valley News.com, and the content that's on there, you know what?

What we you know, what we what we will be, distribute on the radio.

There's, there's, you know, lots of local sources of information that, I think will probably be most, impacted or threatened by this.

And that's what we need to to prepare for.

Sure.

Margaret.

Are there specific programing, programs at D.I.Y.

that would be, you know, greatly impacted by a funding cut that are specific to your station?

Well, the music and Katherine mentioned this, 75% of what we air is music.

The music licensing is paid for and negotiated by by the CPB on the station's behalf.

So, beyond that, six hours of NPR, the biggest concern to me is losing the ability to play music.

And that's cultural music for for the Lehigh Valley that's native to the Lehigh Valley, but also all these other genres.

The, the other programing that we produce, that's for the community and by the community is our community affairs podcasts that air weekly, from 6 p.m.

to 7 p.m.

and those programs are directly about this community.

They're about information in this community.

They're topics that aren't necessarily getting covered by by news media, or they're in addition to the coverage that the news is able to do.

The other outlets.

So and we have we have programs that are English and Spanish and that are sharing vital information to the Latino community that we have, which is very large here.

So there's a lot, a lot at stake.

Kate, I would ask the same question of via, what are some specific programs to your station that could be lost because of this funding loss?

We work with 44 school districts throughout our 22 counties.

We've served over 95,000 students last year alone.

Our educational services are vital to the region to supplement what's provided in the public school system that's at risk.

Our amazing journalism team.

We have news to help fill in some of those gaps in the news deserts that exist in the state of Pennsylvania that's at risk.

And also our emergency alert system.

We, as sister stations, play a critical role in keeping Pennsylvanian residents informed of life threatening and immediately breaking information.

That's all that we are the backbone of the EAS system.

All of that is at risk here.

So it is as serious as I've seen in my public media career.

Sure.

And Katherine touched upon it a little bit when she was talking.

But for the viewers at home who are watching this, who don't really understand how CPB funding works, let's kind of explain that it doesn't just go to like she said, the national NPR station or the national PBS station.

It comes to local stations like these.

Absolutely.

It was an excellent point she made.

Local stations are what make public media so rich and so fantastic.

And we have the ability to program our stations based on what the community needs, what how can we serve the community?

So we then select the content providers.

In our case, we do our NPR programing and we do er, PBS programing, children's programing, the national international news from NPR.

That is what our region, our community has asked us and wants to have us provide to them.

We have the ability to change that format, change the programing based on what the community needs are and what goes away.

Yeah, what goes away.

It's not just news programing or, you know, television or online programing.

You know, it's events.

You know, we we hold 65 events a year.

You know, thousands of people, thousands of families participate in those events.

We have, you know, middle school kids come through this building for tours.

You know, throughout the year, we had, just for Juneteenth, you know, this building was open.

We had hundreds of people in this building as part of the Juneteenth, festival that was held at Steele Stack.

So we, you know, opening up our facility, having access to it, giving kids experiences where they can speak with professional journalists, they can speak with, you know, professional TV production, professionals giving, giving them experiences like that is, you know, a big part of what we do outside of and what people might see on television or read online or listen to on the radio.

Sure.

Piggybacking on that, Margaret.

Diverse voices.

You said both, English and Spanish speakers are on your airwaves.

And so why is it so important to get that cultural diversity on the air?

And could that be lost with the loss of that?

Yeah.

Well, we we're here to serve the community.

And so we need our programing to look and look like and respond to the community.

So we've spent a lot of time over the last few years really diversifying our program, our programing.

The other thing, and to piggyback on what Jim said is we also are serving the youth.

We have a teen, youth media program.

We have, five programs right now that are hosted by teenagers, and the demand is out of bounds.

We don't have air time anymore.

So but we've got everybody.

Every kid wants to do a podcast.

So we're trying to work with our school districts to figure out how to do that, how to give them broadcasting skills.

But it's also confidence.

It's building their confidence.

It's giving them public speaking skills.

It's giving a voice to these kids.

So, that's a small part of what we do, but it's a really important part of what we do.

Absolutely.

Keeping kids on the radio and the behind the scenes, I think that's what people don't often think about because, you know, they see the television, they hear the radio, but it's behind the scenes and the programing that way.

Kate, let's talk a little bit about, you know, what are you telling your viewers and listeners right now as we are in the midst of potentially losing this funding?

Every voice matters.

Every phone call, every email that is sent to elected officials is being noticed, is being recorded.

So we are asking people to be involved.

Public media is this beautiful, interconnected sister stations across the country.

And as we've heard from the intro, it covers 99 over 99% of the American public for radio and over 98% of the public for television.

We are free.

We are accessible.

We need to maintain and nurture what this public media system is.

Our responsibility is to ensure that it thrives for the next generation.

We pass it along to the next generation, and they use it to nurture community, provide that factual information, children's programing, intellectual stimulation, arts, culture, so many wonderful things.

That's all at risk if this crumbles in this rescissions package.

Sure.

Margaret, what are you telling your listeners right now?

The same thing.

I mean, it's regular communications to call.

First it was Congress.

Now it's Senate and Congress.

It's all of the above at this point.

It's a rallying cry.

We had a town hall.

I held a town hall on zoom.

To update our listeners on what's happening and to ask for their support.

So right now, it's all about, making noise around this issue.

Jim, we know we've talked about, you know, supporting public media and, put out calls to action.

I think one thing that we were talking about, even before, this funding threat was, you know, how we need to do a better job in our own building, in our own community here at Lehigh Valley Public Media.

We need to do a better job telling our story, like letting people know what it is we do.

You know, all the content that we create, all the programs that we distribute.

There's a lot and PBS 39 specifically has been in this community for 60 years.

I mean, a valuable part of this community.

I don't know that the average person, or even the hardcore content consumer has a grip on all that happens.

Through Lehigh Valley Public Media and through PBS 39.

So, you know, focusing on ourself, I think is important.

And, and doing a better job in our community of letting people know what we're all about.

You know, maybe by doing a little more of that when we get to when we get into a period like this, it's a little easier to, you know, identify or have people identify.

This is this is what, you know, this group can do for me.

This is why they're valuable.

This is why they're important.

Maybe it makes it a little easier.

Absolutely.

And I thank the three of you so much for giving folks a glimpse into what each individual public media station does day to day, and what it looks like behind the scenes.

Kate Sickora from WVIA, Jim Deegan from Lehigh Valley Public Media and Margaret McConnell from DIY.

Thank you all so much for your input.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Again, we would like to reiterate that we did reach out to lawmakers around the state to join this community conversation.

Those requests were declined or they went unanswered.

In a statement, though, to Lehigh Valley News.com about voting for the public media cuts, Congressman Ryan Mackenzie said LVP Lehigh Valley Public Media spent excessively and went through layoffs in the past year after earning $82 million by auctioning off its television broadcast spectrum in 2017.

He went on to say, quote, while covering this subject, LVP should seek to address their own internal turmoil before expecting more money from taxpayers.

And as some stations may see, employees find other opportunities amid the funding threats.

Here at Lehigh Valley Public Media, a new leader is coming on board despite those clawbacks.

I sat down with our incoming CEO, Hassan Birdsong, to talk to her about taking the reins at a public media outlet.

And I asked her why now?

Hassan, a thank you so much for sitting down with us.

Oh, it's my pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

So you are the incoming CEO for Lehigh Valley Public Media, which encompasses PBS 39 on the television side, over radio, on the radio side.

And then, of course, a nonprofit newsroom.

Lehigh Valley News.com on the digital side.

So kind of all encompassing here.

And so my first question for you would be, what drew you to this role, especially during a time when our federal funds are at risk?

Well, I have to admit, Brittany, I do like a challenge.

So I was very excited to see how juicy this one was.

This is truly a dream come true for me.

I have always wanted to lead a nonprofit organization and have been very active in our community volunteering, but the timing was just perfect for me.

Career wise, to step into a role like this.

My experience in media, my experience leading organizations, and of course, being from the Lehigh Valley my entire life made this just the perfect fit for me.

And I look forward to being able to do something that not only aligns with my values, but aligns with my skills to have a meaningful impact here and really, effect the change of an organization that I intend to have around for the next 60 years.

Wonderful.

Hassan.

So what is your vision for this particular PBS station as funding is being threatened?

So our goal is to continue offering the services that we deliver to our community in spite of not having that, federal funding.

That is our commitment.

And we will continue to do that by working on what is scaling, what's working and fixing what's not, and then eliminating anything that needs to be eliminated.

So the goal is for us to continue delivering with discipline and innovation the most impactful services to our community.

Sure.

And let's talk about that public service submission.

It was something that really drew you to this position, as you said.

And so how do we continue that even if those funds are pooled?

Well, we will have to expand our community partners really, make sure that the services that we're delivering to the community are understood by the community.

So I think there's a lot that we have.

Valley Public Media does that people are just unaware of.

Since I've had this role, people comment to me what public media means to them, personally.

And oftentimes they're missing some of the things that we do.

And so I think it's important for us to make sure that we're telling the story of Lehigh Valley public media and amplifying the voices of others, so that they could do the same.

Sure.

Should we lose that CPB funding for public media?

Are there ways to diversify those revenue streams?

Oh, absolutely.

We've got tremendous assets, not just in the audience that we built, at Lehigh Valley News, but we've got a beautiful studio space here.

A very talented, award winning production team, to work with.

And so those are just a few of the things that we can do to be creative about, trying to, identify new revenue streams.

Sure.

When we talk about the financial side, this is nothing new to you and your experience.

No, it is not.

So I have, I grew up professionally in sales and marketing, and I've done sales, execution and leadership for my entire professional career, which is why all of the volunteering I've done has also been very focused on fundraising.

So I've done fundraising.

I was the chair of the 25th anniversary Music festival.

I've done fundraising for the sales tax capital campaign, the Junior League.

I've started a scholarship for community Action.

We have Valley.

So I've been around, doing fundraising in our community.

Sure.

And so I want to get a little bit into the history of PBS 39 and just ask you about, there is a chunk of money that people have heard about from the FCC spectrum auction.

A few years ago, Lehigh Valley Public Media received a large sum of money, and so some would argue, why do you need the CPB funding when you've got that other investment?

And so can you explain that to.

Sure.

That is such a good question.

And one that I have asked myself, not just about Lehigh Valley Public Media, but about some other organizations in the Lehigh Valley who have large endowments.

But the way for those organizations and the way for us to be sustainable, to be around for the next generation, requires us to be good stewards of that investment.

Just like if we won the lottery, which is essentially what we did when we, got that sum for the auction.

We we can't continue spending down the money at the rate that we are spending it down.

So good stewards would spend between 4 and 5% and be able to make that investment last over the next generation and more.

And at the rate that we're going, the money would be gone in my lifetime.

And that's not what we're here to do.

That's not what anybody wants.

We want to create something that is sustainable and around for the next generation.

So, Hassan, how do we do that?

By involving the community and our stakeholders.

Absolutely.

I think it's important that we get out there and have conversations with the community, with our stakeholders to understand what are the gaps, what are the things that they need from us today, what can we do to really impact our community when it comes to education, when it comes to delivering the news, when it comes to culture and entertainment out of it, how can we support our community in a meaningful way?

How can we lift the voices of those that are underserved or underrepresented?

That's what we're here to do, and we will deliver on that mission.

And so why is that so important to you that I think that is important to all of us, because the fabric of our community is really what makes us unique.

It's that, I think it's not really a melting pot.

I think it's more of a stew.

It's it's all of these different things together where when you can have access to it, hear those stories, it brings us together.

It's a way for us to connect as a community.

And I think that is more important now than ever.

Given the separation and the divide that has been created.

But this gives us the opportunity to have authentic, conversations and really connect the community in a way that's different from what others can do.

Sure.

Now, back to the federal funding.

How do you see a role of a CEO who is leading a public media station, a PBS station, MPR station?

How do you see that role as it pertains to advocating for federal funding?

So I think that it's important that as the president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Public Media, that I, participate in the national activities that we are doing for advocacy around the PBS funding.

And, MPR funding through the CPB.

But I also think it's important that the focus be here locally because I'm one person, we are one station.

If we can get the community to create this groundswell of support, because we're delivering the kind of content, the kind of experience having an impact, in a way that's meaningful to them, they will support it as well.

And really, that exponentially amplifies what we're trying to do as individuals here.

It really sounds like you're hitting the ground running.

You haven't even taken the position yet.

You'll be joining Lehigh Valley Public Media in July.

So we thank you so much for sitting down with us today.

Thank you, Brittany, I appreciate your time.

Well, some things have changed in 50 years, but others have not.

In 1969, Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood appeared before a committee to advocate for continued federal funding for public broadcasting, specifically to counter a proposal by President Richard Nixon to cut funding in half.

And I feel that if we and public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health.

Back then, politicians on both sides of the aisle were moved by what the beloved TV personality had to say.

At the heart of it was children's education.

When the US government rescinded millions in funding for public media earlier this year, it put a number of educational programs at risk, including PBS 30 Nine's Ready to Learn, a vital early learning initiative for children across the Lehigh Valley.

One local foundation stepped in to fill the gap.

Joining us now is Doctor Scott Garrigan, founder of the Garrigan Foundation, along with Cate Reifsnyder, the director of education for Lehigh Valley Public Media and Librarian Sarah Meitzler fro the Lower Macungie Library.

Thank you all so much for joining us for this conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Cate we'll start with you.

We heard ready to learn, earlier in the program from Katherine Maher.

And now we are hearing it once again.

So what is ready to learn for those who don't know?

So ready to learn is the grant that actually funded PBS kids development and distribution of all of those wonderful programs that you talk about from Mister Rogers all the way through what we're doing now with Daniel Tiger, our programs with, that address critical thinking in addition to those, self-regulating, emotional programs that we deal with.

Daniel Tiger, were established by Mister Rogers.

That programing is distributed through the nation.

National program.

But then the stations like us, PBS 39.

We are ready to learn station.

So we have the opportunity to extend those learning opportunities, bring them out into the community and work firsthand with families with, you know, hands on activities.

There'll be clips, there'll be digital access, but they're programs that are brought right into the community.

And that's really the impactful piece.

Those programs are meant to be accessible in a community and especially, in a community like ours.

But across the nation, 60% of our population in the Lehigh Valley, three and four year olds are not in a preschool program.

So it's really important that there's a place for all of that accessible learning and those key readiness skills to be acquired.

So it's it's hugely impactful that they would be pulling back funding for programing that that is so vital to our community.

Sure.

And we're going to talk more about those programs that are implemented at places like the library.

But first, Doctor Garrigan, I want to come to you.

You heard about this clawback of funding for Ready to Learn, and your foundation stepped up to fund the Ready to Learn program here at PBS 39 throughout the summer.

Why was this decision made?

What prompted you to step up and say, you know what?

This is an important program.

We need to fund it on a Tuesday, the morning call for, ran an article announcing the cut of funding, and it was clear that it was for a program that was already to launch, serving a thousand kids.

And with funding, clawed back.

It wouldn't run.

I have a soft spot in my heart for very young children.

This is to help them with literacy.

We have many kids in our region who have trouble learning to read.

And, it's something that, our my, my foundation's trustees could not stand, that day, one of my trustees called me and said, did I read the article?

Yes.

She said, what do you think?

That was all it took because we both had the same idea that we were fortunate to have the ability to to, recover those funds for PBS 39.

Also, because we're a very small group, we were able to arrange, within one week for those funds to be transferred so there would be no interruption at all to the program or its planning.

So, Cate, what exactly did he say?

So he saved so much.

So we literally had made calls to our partners, to our libraries.

We had stopped our planning for summer enrichment.

And it would be a library.

Associations.

We have five libraries that we partner with.

We do engagements with them.

We provide activity bags and sacks with for them.

We have, summer programing that we do here even in the studio, where we have families come in for steam and Stem learning that are have ready to learn resources around them.

We have the summer enrichment programs that we do with our local schools, and then we have some professional development that we do prepping and making sure resources are available for our early childhood educators so that they can have those resources at the ready at the beginning of the school year.

And that clawback of funds could not have come at a worse time.

Families are preparing for summer slide, and we were trying to be that support group for them.

So it was amazing that we were able to literally stop making phone calls to Sarah and say we couldn't.

And then we could.

It was amazing.

Sure, sure.

And, Sarah, I'd like to bring you into this conversation.

You see those programs firsthand in the Lower Macungie Library.

What do they look like?

What's the response from people, from people that are taking advantage of this?

So the community is so blessed to be able to have PBS's 39 recognized and come to our community.

They are excited to be able to, have that hands on, experience, whether it's the smart socks that children actually get to take and keep that book, it's not like when they come to the library and we have kids who are like saying goodbye to each individual book as they return it.

It's theirs.

They can read as many times as they want.

And in those smart sacks, what's great is the summer it completely.

As we were planning this months ago, it collaborated with our summer reading theme, color Our World.

And so there was watercolor, supplies in the sack along with it.

And so right away they were able to make that connection with our library, but also with PBS 39 and, the creativity and that just having a child is constantly on their screen, but actually doing something with the arts is a huge, deal.

And, we also have another program, that we've collaborated with, PBS.

Sorry, nine.

It's, get Coloring Scratch JR.

And this was another great program because it brought iPads to the library, for the children to use.

And it wasn't just, okay, I'm going to just sit my child passively at a corner and they're just going to idly watch some random video.

I don't know if they're watching it.

Is it reliable?

Is it safe?

They're actually coding and they're learning and they're independently learning without, a parent right beside them.

And our library, we don't have a computer lab.

So to be able to bring in those iPads and have children be able to do that, and especially during the summer, she was saying what the summer slide.

So they're actually learning and they're not even realizing they're learning because they're still being entertained.

And so I think that's one great thing that PBS has always done is that kids are excited to learn and they don't know that they're learning.

And that's the important part.

So it doesn't feel like it's school or that it's boring, that it's something that they're engaged fully with.

The other program that PBS 39 collaborate with us for their children, was they came for a Lila and Loop storytime with families.

And they're just like the show itself and encourage family bonding time.

And just like the games that you'll see on the show.

And so we had a lot of families.

They were really excited to kind of the kids were able to see their parents and the silly ways that maybe the parents wouldn't necessarily do at home.

They're all seriousness.

So to be able to see that and and actually see their parents be silly and public was like a whole nother thing for these children.

And like I said, so we've just been so blessed by the partnership with PBS 39.

We have, you know, we've only been partnering since 2023, but so many things have already been happening and we're just thrilled.

Wonderful.

Scott, I would like to bring you into this, conversation and hearing that.

What would you say to other funders who may be thinking about or have the means to fund a program like this?

So far, Ready to Learn is funded throughout the summer, but that could look different should public media lose funding this summer.

Our Lehigh Valley region has been, blessed with several large philanthropists in the past.

General Harry C Trexler for Lehigh County, Leonard Poole from Air Products, Lenny Feller for the Northampton County area.

And they gave their personal fortunes back to their community.

Now, this is a community organization.

It serves the community and people who have earned way more than they need.

And there are many of those people around, who they they, maybe should hear the, the idea that it's it's much better to give than to receive.

You only get so much pleasure out of whatever you can buy at the moment.

But if you give something to support the community that supported you on your way up, that's that's something where, we could tap into a a larger, source of philanthropy.

Sure, sure.

I want the three of you to hold tight real quick.

We have an audience member who's asking a question.

And this question is for one of our panelists that was on previously, Jim Deegan from Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Jim, one of our audience members is asking, how will PBS adjust to mostly Republican lawmakers failing to respond to PBS interviews?

If that becomes the norm?

Obviously, this is referring to what we heard earlier from Congressman Ryan McKenzie.

Yeah, I mean, I don't see it as a matter of adjustment.

I think, you know, what we need to do day in and day out, whether it's reporting news stories, if it's holding programs like this, if it's, conducting a debate, like we need to conduct ourselves professionally and fairly and, after that, you know, I think, I think some of that takes care of itself.

We don't we saw this just coming through the last election cycle where there were, you know, many local races, like the real local races on the ballot.

Really important.

County executive, city council, mayors, etc.. You know, we did four debates, in the spring, and everybody who participated in them, you know, said that they felt like they were conducted fairly.

They thought they were asked tough questions, but they got a fair shake.

And I think that's what we need to do.

Like, like we can't force people to be here.

We can't force people to answer questions for stories.

But, you know, what we can't control is, is, you know, what we put out there and the way and the way we do that.

So, you know, I, I won't give up on that.

Like, like, like I don't see it as an adjustment.

I think we need to keep doing what we do.

And, hopefully, that takes care of itself.

Wonderful.

Jim, thank you for answering that question.

I want to thank Sarah, Cate, and Scott for joining us in this conversation.

Thank you so much for your input and letting us know what the Ready to Learn funds mean to the community.

So thank you.

And that will do it for this community conversation broadcast in the balance.

We want to thank all of our guests for joining us and you for watching from all of us here at PBS39, WLVR 91.3 FM and Lehigh Valley news dot Com.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Have a good night.