Stand Up for WFUV
A note from WFUV’s General Manager:
On May 1, President Trump signed an Executive Order which instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to prohibit both direct and indirect federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). This action is meant to weaken public media, including stations like ours.
Legally speaking, CPB is not a federal agency subject to the President’s authority. It was established and funded by Congress to be a private nonprofit corporation independent of the federal government. The Executive Order is likely to be challenged in court by CPB and other organizations. But even if it fails, it’s just one of several efforts by the administration (all in Congress) designed to completely defund public broadcasting – including by way of rescinding funds that have already been allocated to stations.
The order targets federal dollars only. Private donations such as yours, corporate sponsorships, events and other forms of support continue to be the foundation of WFUV’s long-term sustainability. YOU keep us strong!
Please read on to better understand the importance of this funding for WFUV and its fellow stations, and I’ll do my best to keep you up to date.
Thanks for your support for WFUV, in all its forms.
Chuck Singleton
How Federal Funding Supports WFUV — and Why It’s Essential
Here are 5 things to know about public media and federal funding:
- Public media reaches nearly 99% of the United States, including the most remote communities, with high-quality, non-commercial programming and services every day.
- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an independent nonprofit that distributes federal dollars (an average of $1.60 per person annually) to local stations. Federal funding for public media accounts for 0.01% of all government spending. This money is used to invest in programming and services according to each community’s needs.
- In this fiscal year CPB provides 7% of WFUV’s annual funding.
- Cuts to federal funding will harm the ability of WFUV and our fellow stations to serve the people who need it most. In many areas of the U.S., public radio is the only local source of news, weather, emergency alerts, and other critical information.
- Learn more about how help you can preserve federal funding and public media at Protect My Public Media.
It takes a variety of funding sources to bring you the programming you enjoy on WFUV. The largest component is individual giving, listeners like you who support WFUV through Membership contributions and Major Gifts. Together, they make up nearly 60% of WFUV’s funding. Corporate Underwriting (or business support) is also significant, providing one fifth of WFUV's budget. Other important sources include Special Events (7%), The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (7%), WFUV’s licensee, Fordham University (4% in direct support and significantly more in indirect support), Miscellaneous sources (2%), New York State (1%) and Endowment Earnings (0.50%).
CPB support makes up 7% of WFUV’s FY2025 funding or $496,800 out of a total budget of $6,861,536. However, CPB also provides indirect support to member stations, covering a variety of services including music licensing. By NPR’s estimates, factoring in such costs if WFUV and public stations have to assume them, would likely mean replacement of nearly $900,000 per year, including fundraising expenses.
CPB funds support a variety of important needs at WFUV. Recent examples include programming production and acquisition, professional development for our team and most critically, the replacement of WFUV’s three transmitters.
More Information on How CPB Funding Works
What role does the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) play in public media and broadcasting?
CPB is distinct from NPR and PBS. It is not a broadcaster, producer, or distributor, but a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 to support other public radio and television entities. Its two primary functions are to serve as a firewall between politics and public broadcasting and to help fund programming, stations, and technology.
Funding for CPB is established two years in advance through the federal annual appropriations process. The advance is intended to insulate funding from political pressures.
CPB’s general appropriation for fiscal year 2025 was $535 million – with the total federal support for public media amounting to about $1.60 per year per person. The CPB is responsible for allocating its funds from the federal budget in any way that fulfills its mission: to ensure universal access, over-the-air and online, to high-quality content and telecommunications services that are commercial-free and free of charge.
Nearly 70% of the total funding is distributed directly to local stations like WFUV so we can decide how best to program for our communities. CPB has had bipartisan support in Congress for more than 50 years.
How much CPB funding does WFUV receive?
In the current fiscal year, 7% of WFUV’s annual budget was provided by community service grants we received from CPB. That annual grant is calculated using a formula that takes into account our region’s population, the amount of funding we are able to raise locally from donations by individuals, and financial support from small businesses and organizations.
In addition to community service grants, CPB allows us to reduce costs on satellite connections, music rights, and more — and also pays many of those reduced costs for the system. The loss of this funding has an estimated annual impact on WFUV of nearly $900,000. Stations like ours would face new operating costs – and they would be much higher without the scale and efficiency CPB provides for the public media system.
For example, WFUV is essential to our city and nation’s music ecosystem, and CPB negotiates blanket music licenses for noncommercial uses of music on behalf of the whole public media system and, with a portion of the federal appropriation, pays those licensing fees for all eligible public media stations. CPB is able to provide efficient rights management solutions for every public media station, and it would be cost-prohibitive and burdensome for WFUV and other stations to negotiate the same licenses and fees on their own.
How does WFUV rely on this federal funding? CPB funding makes WFUV and public media as you currently know it possible. The support enables us to provide the best local programming and unique services to the New York area. Across all public media platforms – from free over-the-air broadcast, to unpaywalled websites, podcasts, streaming, and more – federal funds support our core services and lays a foundation for local initiatives that enrich and strengthen our community in a variety of areas:
- Local Music Initiatives: WFUV works to identify and lift local artists through features such as NY Slice, and partners with local music venues, cultural organizations and schools to support music discovery in our community.
- Supporting Live Music: WFUV hosts 100+ live music sessions and interviews each year in its performance studio, which has welcomed local newcomers such as Infinity Song, Pan Arcadia, and Ciao Malz alongside cherished icons such as Stevie Wonder, Patti Smith and Mavis Staples. Sessions are shared with our community on air, through our online audio archives and on video via WFUV’s YouTube channel.
- Local Issues Coverage: CPB support enables WFUV to collaborate with exceptional New York area nonprofits through our award-winning Strike A Chord program. For over a decade, this public affairs series has amplified the work of nearly 400 local organizations that tackle social issues and needs such as teen mental health, emergency food services, creating community for newcomers and engaging kids through the arts.
How can you help?
Learn more about how to make your voice heard by visiting ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Protect My Public Media provides resources and information to help you contact members of Congress and share your thoughts about the value of WFUV and public radio in the New York City region.
Your financial support for WFUV helps keep us strong and independent. Please become a sustaining member or make an additional gift today.
Proudly share your support for public radio, and encourage your friends to support us, too.
