Editors Note: This story was updated on July 23, 2025 at 9:15 a.m. with information from Jordan Basham regarding vulnerable positions and TV/radio signals due to the loss of funding.
WKU Public Media is preparing for a loss of $1.2 million for the upcoming year after the House approved the Rescission Act of 2025, which cut over $1.1 billion of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The Rescission Act of 2025, which cancels $9.4 billion across the Department of State, the U.S. Agency of International Development, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and other independent and related agencies, was officially approved by the House on Tuesday, July 17.
The WKU Public Media operation is housed in the Academic Complex on WKU’s campus, and offers local and national television, radio and digital news coverage through its National Public Radio stations and its Public Broadcasting Service affiliate.
Jordan Basham, the interim executive director of WKU Public Media, said that the station will lose a third of its budget, with the loss of $1,222,603 within the first year. Basham said the station’s television operations cost almost $800,000 and is one of the areas of the station that CPB listed as potential for closure due to funding cuts.
Basham also said that 10 full-time positions and 40 part-time and student positions might be impacted due to those positions being funded by the federal grants. The student crew is heavily used for both on campus and off-site operations.
Basham said the station is currently in the process of launching an emergency pledge drive encouraging sustaining members to increase their monthly contribution and to help recruit new members
“We’re probably going to have a $500,000 goal for an emergency pledge and that would put us in a much better position than we are today,” Basham said. “It’s not 100% of what we need to fill the gap that’s in our budget but the position that I think we’re in, we have to figure out what the structure of a sustainable organization is.”
Basham sent a statement to staff with an update about the potential effects of the Rescission Act on Tuesday, July 22.
“I can say that how we are structured today, many of the ways we serve, and some of the communities we serve are only possible because of the support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” Basham said in the statement. “Without that support, we will not be able to continue long-term in our current structure and will be forced to transition to a reduced but sustainable form. The impacts of the loss of federal funding, which make up roughly 33% of our current budget, will impact every area we invest in, from programming to personnel.”
Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the president and chief executive officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, released a statement on Friday, July 18, addressing the loss of the federal funding.
According to Harrison, the loss will diminish public media’s ability to provide free of charge and high-quality educational content, information and life-saving alerts. She stated that the cuts will likely include closures of many public media stations.
“For nearly 60 years, Congress has recognized public media as a vital public service,” Harrison said. “The votes by the House and Senate mark a profound shift in the federal government’s longstanding bipartisan commitment to ensuring that all Americans, regardless of where they live or how much they earn, have access to public media and the essential services it provides.”
Basham, who has been on WKU’s campus for 25 years, said that WKU Public Media is a university licensee and has always experienced a high level of support from the university, especially Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement.
“Different parts of campus that are part of our operation are offering higher levels of support than we typically have to ask for and that is something that really helps us.”
Even with the support from the university and community, Basham says donations won’t be able to make up for all of the lost funding.
“I think we’re at very real risk of losing some of the pieces of our broadcast operation, I don’t think those are one day things, but they’re near term,” Basham said. “I think if we’re going to find ourselves turning off signals, it is inside this next year.
These signals could include WKU Public Media’s three television signals and five radio signals.
