As the second Trump administration continues to wield an ax to federal programs, those in public media must be wondering when it might be their turn.
Two non-commercial stations in the Monterey Bay, CA area — California State University-Monterey Bay news/talk KAZU (90.3) Pacific Grove, and Natural Bridges Media variety KSQD (90.7) Santa Cruz — are pondering their future during this 80th anniversary year for public radio, with no indication that it will make it to an 81st.
For KAZU, an affiliate of NPR and other entities supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the threat of a cutoff in federal funding, which has been suggested by newly appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr and Elon Musk, is very real. The CPB’s $212,000 grant, the only government funds KAZU receives, accounts for nearly 10% of the station’s revenue every year. The grant was part of the more than $80.2 million the CPB allocated in 2024 in community service grants to radio stations nationwide, making up an average of 6% of all public radio broadcasting revenue nationally.
“It’s easy to say that it’s only 10%, therefore it doesn’t matter,” KAZU interim General Manager and 20-year station employee Douglas McKnight tells Lookout Santa Cruz, “but we are a nonprofit radio station. So when we have income, it doesn’t go to shareholders or for bonuses. Every nickel we get we use it to provide public service to the community. So what that 10% means is that we would have to find another revenue source, or we would have to cut back 10% of what we do. And that’s a shame, because there is a great need now to get out information that is fact-checked, provide civil debates and civil discussions and background information on what’s going on in the world. So, if we lose that 10%, we would have to adjust our expectations.”
For KAZU, that grant money will come in handy in 2025, as it plans on adding two news reporters to its current two full-time news staffers, as well as hiring a new GM.
Meanwhile, at KSQD, a community station established in 2019, which takes no direct government funding, the main concern is a possible crackdown on free speech by the new administration. That’s especially an issue given the station regularly broadcasts viewpoints contrary to those held by the now-in-charge far right, including syndicated shows such as “Thom Hartmann” and “Democracy Now.”
“We were always a station that is outspoken in commenting on local politics and national politics and international politics,” KSQD Station Manager David Bean says. “What the change in the administration seems to have done for us is to now reflect on what that could mean again, under the FCC license that we operate under, under the current administration’s seeming threats toward the media. Also, in our own right, we are debating and discussing how much to be a resistance voice. We were always a resistance voice, but now that word has a different resonance.”
