Although 91.9 WCLK-FM is a full-fledged jazz music station, it faces the same financial challenges as its news/talk brethren WABE and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
When Congress and President Donald Trump zeroed out funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, it meant WCLK would lose $300,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, ending June 30, 2026.
The station was expecting the funds this October, representing about 13% of its anticipated budget.
“There have been cries to defund CPB for years, but I never thought it would happen,” said Wendy S. Williams, the station general manager since 1994. “We’ve got to regroup and find ways to recoup the money on top of our regular fundraising initiatives.”
Credit: Jason Getz
Credit: Jason Getz
WCLK, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on the FM airwaves last year, takes in more than half its revenues from individual donors and corporate sponsorships. Clark Atlanta University, which owns WCLK, provides about one third of the budget. It is actively seeking funds from donors on a special donation page on its website.
In a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Clark Atlanta President George T. French Jr. said the university “is actively engaged in supporting WCLK beyond its current annual contribution by working with station leadership to identify new sources of funding and amplify outreach efforts.”
He said, “WCLK is central to the identity of Clark Atlanta University. It exemplifies our commitment to culture, education, and community engagement and we are committed to ensuring its success for the next 50 years and beyond.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
For instance, Williams said WCLK will start pursuing grants from charitable foundations, an avenue it has not sought in the past.
The station’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year before the CPB cuts was expected to be $2.2 million. It hopes to raise an extra $300,000 by the end of November to entirely replace the loss of CPB funds. “I am confident we will reach our goal,” Williams said, which would help them maintain a staff of 11 full-time and 12 part-time employees.
WCLK, she noted, also pays $30,000 to National Public Radio for its website platform and music licensing fees through CPB, which negotiates blanket music licenses for the entire public broadcasting system. This allows stations to play copyrighted music without signing individual licensing agreements with organizations like ASCAP and BMI that provide performance rights of their members’ music to businesses and organizations that use music publicly.
Williams said its current licenses run through the end of 2025 and is unsure how WCLK will grapple with licensing without CPB support. “This is new territory for us all,” she said.
The station, Williams said, is not immune to shifting listening patterns, noting that it now draws about 100,000 unique listeners a month, down from 250,000 at its peak.
The primary reason Trump pressured Congress to cut federal funding of public radio and TV stations was alleged political bias against conservatives. Music was not in the target, but stations like WCLK have become collateral damage.
CPB, before Congress rescinded the funding, provided $550 million a year to about 1,500 member TV and radio stations nationwide.
A CPB spokesperson said 289 of those stations run at least 75% music.
Many of the stations in major metropolitan areas will survive, but as WABE President Jennifer Dorian noted, many rural TV and radio stations with less robust donor support might have to shut down or consolidate resources.
Even in Atlanta — which has two NPR news/talk stations and two PBS broadcast stations — WABE might be tempted to drop its TV station, which has weaker ratings than GPB’s, and GPB’s radio station, which draws fewer listeners than WABE.
Over the past week, WABE said it has raised about $500,000 from more than 1,000 donors. The station is expected to lose $1.9 million in CPB funding this fall.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
“That response to WABE’s call for action and donations is testament to the value Atlanta puts on free press, local stories and local voices,” said spokesperson Sherri Daye Scott.
GPB didn’t provide any specific donor information from the past few days, but Bert Wesley Huffman, president and chief executive officer, said in a provided statement that “we’ve seen a good response from donors since the rescission and are feeling hopeful. GPB is always in fundraising mode, and while we don’t have any special campaigns running, we are reminding donors of the low barrier to entry for supporting public media.”
He noted that GPB has 90,000 donors statewide, and “there are 11 million Georgians who benefit from our services every day.”
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