Comment by testplzignore
21 hours ago
Per https://cpb.org/funding, $357m goes to public tv and $119m to public radio.
That's a nice chunk of change, though low enough that a few friendly billionaires could put some pocket change into a trust today and make up for this funding in perpetuity. And there undoubtedly will be a massive surge in donations from small donors in response to this.
As long as the bigger fish are willing to subsidize the smaller rural stations, I don't think there is anything to be afraid of.
The removal of this Sword of Damocles is in my opinion a great thing for PBS and NPR.
A few friendly billionaires could have funded them entirely for the last 60 years. I see no reason to think that they suddenly will now. Many stations will be closed, and people will lose out on valued programing.
Joan Kroc gave NPR its biggest gift ever, $200 million. Alas, that was unusual.