WABE and Georgia Public Broadcasting, the two Atlanta-based public media operations, are bracing themselves for major cuts after Congress on Friday passed a bill to nix funding to the nonprofit organization that supports local stations.
Congress previously passed a bill giving $550 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years to distribute to more than 1,500 public media outlets nationwide. But after urging from President Donald Trump, the Republican-led House and Senate “clawed back” the money in what was dubbed a rescission bill.
“It’s a sad moment,” WABE CEO Jennifer Dorian said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re basically seeing the dismantling of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. That was such a great idea of using media for the public good.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The cuts will take a bite out of the budgets of both broadcasters.
For WABE, this represents a loss of 13% of the budget: $1.9 million for fiscal year 2026 ending June 30. Dorian said WABE is expecting revenues of $16.8 million for fiscal year 2026, down from $18 million this past fiscal year.
In fiscal year 2024, GPB’s revenue totaled about $39.8 million, according to GPB. Of this, about 12% came from CPB. GPB has about 120 full-time employees, 15 of whom are in the newsroom.
WABE, which has 85 full-time equivalent employees after peaking at nearly 100 last year, has already made two series of staffing cuts since November in anticipation of a revenue shortfall.
“We’re really lean already,” Dorian said. “We have a lot of staffing that is a single point of failure: We have one IT person and one broadcast engineer.”
Credit: GEORGIA PUBLIC BROAD
Credit: GEORGIA PUBLIC BROAD
GPB released a statement touting its 65-year history providing the state “high-quality educational programming, unbiased local news, homegrown sports and entertainment as well as emergency public safety messages.”
It said, “GPB leadership anticipated a rapidly changing federal funding environment and in response, has conducted careful scenario planning in preparation for multiple outcomes.” GPB did not define what cuts might be coming but did ask “Georgians to show their support and donate to GPB.”
Both operations run radio and TV stations with newsrooms and original programming departments. WABE’s newsroom has 22 employees, up from 13 when Dorian took over in 2021. GPB’s newsroom has held steady in recent years.
More than 80% of WABE’s budget comes from individual donors and corporate underwriting, according to an audit for the FY 2024 budget.
GPB has a broader mission than WABE. It covers the entire state with nine TV stations and 19 radio stations. For each of the past two fiscal years, it received state appropriations of $13.6 million, used primarily to create educational content for the K-12 public school system and infrastructure costs, not its news operation. WABE has no such mandate and receives no state funding.
In its statement, GPB noted that “we are grateful to the Georgia General Assembly for providing level funding for this year and thankful for our many loyal donors across the state and beyond.”
GPB also received $15.8 million ― about 37% ― of its revenue from donors and sponsorships. It also received about $2.6 million from income from outside production companies and groups using its Midtown facilities. Much of that money went into programming and news operations.
Because of the presence of both GPB and WABE, metro Atlanta has two public radio stations that air National Public Radio content and two TV stations offering Public Broadcasting Service shows. WABE’s 90.1 radio station brings in about six times more listeners than GPB’s WRAS-FM at 88.5, according to Nielsen ratings.
On the other hand, GPB’s TV station WGTV receives significantly more viewers than WABE’s TV station. Last year, WABE reduced its expenditures for PBS programming to save $900,000 a year.
Traditional broadcast viewership and radio listenership have been on the decline in recent years as people opt for more on-demand options. As a result, both operations have invested more money in podcasts and digital programming.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
CPB distributes more than two-thirds of its budget to its public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to NPR and PBS to support national programming.
Shows like “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” on NPR and “PBS News Hour” and “Masterpiece” on PBS are largely funded by the local stations.
Dorian said WABE plans to renegotiate its deals with NPR and PBS to reduce costs.
Since returning to office in January, the Trump administration set its sights on slashing public subsidies for NPR and PBS, alleging bias in coverage, including the spread of “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” and that it is an unnecessary expense.
Some Republicans in Congress were uncomfortable with the cuts, yet supported them anyway, wary of crossing Trump or upsetting his agenda.
No Democrats supported the measure when it passed the Senate, 51-48, in the early morning hours on Thursday.
“Of all of the things that the American people want Congress to focus on right now, I don’t think that defunding ‘Sesame Street’ is or should be a high priority,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said in a statement.
Dorian said that while WABE and GPB will survive on their own, many smaller rural stations that rely more heavily on federal funding and have fewer donor resources.
“Atlanta has a very good history of supporting its local stations,” Dorian said. “We hope to get through this with the people’s support and a vigorous focus on local news and storytelling.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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