‘Sad Day’ for public media
The consequences will be huge. Reverend Entertainment Advocate Bruce Ramer, from Gang Tyre Ramer Brown and Passman, says Variety That closing the company for public broadcaster will have a deep impact on public media throughout the country.
“The public system as a whole cannot survive without the infusion of funds from the federal government that come through the CPB,” said Ramer, who spent 16 years on the board of nine members that supervises the CPB. He served countless conditions as chairman.
Ramer’s reaction came as the word spread that the independent agency will stop the activities in September. Now that the Trump administration has successfully stripped the CPB of its financing and has returned $ 1.1 billion back for 2026 and 2027, the CPB announced on Friday that it will be settled as an independent entity after almost 60 years.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who have called, written and requested the congress to maintain federal financing for CPB, we are now confronted with the difficult reality of closing our activities,” said CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison in a statement.
The CPB is located in the heart of Washington, DC and has around 100 employees. In 2024, the BIDEN administration assigned around $ 525 million to funds for the CPB to allocate between public radio and TV stations, including affiliated companies of NPR and PBS, as well as completely independent outlets.
Ramer pointed to Marfa Public Radio, an outlet valve that serves a region southwest of San Antonio near the border with Mexico. In times of natural disaster, Marfa Public Radio has often been the only available outlet to serve residents of essential news and emergency information.
“I fell in love with this station,” said Ramer. “They could stay in the air if others were not.”
But with the CPB funds that have been withdrawn, the fate of such stations is much doubt. The CPB dollars are the seed money with which stations can make more extensive fundraising efforts of the general public.
“This is just as established as a scientific fact. Money feeds broadcasts,” Ramer said. “The system will not function without primary the pump.”
The dismantling of the CPB is personally difficult for Ramer to look at, given his investment of time and energy at the CPB. He was nominated on the board by three presidents – George W. Bush, Barack Obama and eventually Donald Trump in 2020. CPB board members were approved by the congress. Five of the nine board members, including the chairman, are usually in line with the sitting administration in terms of political convictions. But Ramer emphasized that CPB leaders have been proud of keeping politics outside their decision-making for decades.
In fact, the CPB structure was founded in 1967 by the congress as a means to lay down some distance between his work and the politicians who voices about the annual conference budgeting assignment.
“There is a saying that CPB is the wall that is beaten on both sides. But it works,” Ramer said. He noted that most countries and all major democracies have a form of public media financing.
What is more, the CPB did its best to stay out of specific editorial decisions. Subsidies are given more to stations and producers than to support specific shows or productions. But CPB Seed Money has been crucial in supporting most large PBS franchises, from “Sesame Street” to “Masterpiece Theater” to “PBS newshour.” Some CPB funds are specifically indicated to support community building and auditor-outreach events, Ramer added.
Stations can also request CPB funds to build up technical and infrastructure assets that are needed to expand their reach or to support live streaming and webcasting of shows. All this is at risk with the sudden loss of funds.
“It’s a very sad day. I have a lot of confidence in the public system. Is it perfect? No. Nothing is. But it’s damn good,” Ramer said. “It is fantastic for programming children, for special programs. And they also set up shows on July 4, looking at the entire nation. It is an important part of this country. And now they liquidate.”
Ramer left the sign after reaching his term limit at the end of 2024. He missed his involvement in such a nuclear part of the media infrastructure of the nation. He hopes that the CPB structure will be generated as soon as there is a change in the White House Regimes.
“Hopefully it can be saved,” Ramer said.
