A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's been almost a year since President Trump signed a bill stripping public television and radio of all federal funding, more than $1 billion. Trump had called NPR and PBS monsters, saying they were biased against conservatives. The networks refute that and deny they are biased. Since that federal money was pulled, more than 500 public media staffers have been laid off, according to the group Semipublic. Things have been grim at many stations, but as NPR's David Folkenflik reports, there's been a lot of light, too.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: In the rural four corners region where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet, KSUT Public Radio lost 20% of its annual funds. That's brutal.
TAMI GRAHAM, BYLINE: We really didn't know how we were going to fare.
FOLKENFLIK: Here's the station's executive director, Tami Graham.
GRAHAM: We had pretty major concerns about, you know, whether we were going to need to cut staffing, cut back on some of our national programming, et cetera.
FOLKENFLIK: KSUT had seen the writing on the wall, even joining NPR and other stations in suing President Trump when he first targeted public media funds through an executive order. They called the president's order unconstitutional. The law passed by Congress, controversial as it was, went by the book.
GRAHAM: Graham saw it as an existential threat. We went to our listeners. We went to our membership and were very transparent with them about our situation and that we needed their support.
FOLKENFLIK: And then KSUT drew record levels of support, enough to set aside $100,000 for the station's first endowment, enough to foot the full bill to pay for 99 solar panels to put on its roof.
GRAHAM: We're about to install that to eliminate about 43,000 a year in electricity expenses with our multiple tower sites and our home base.
FOLKENFLIK: This year, the stations and NPR won their lawsuit against Trump's executive order. So now federal agencies can legally send money to public media stations if it's authorized by Congress. And lawmakers found a way to preserve funding for stations that serve tribal audiences through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, KSUT among them. Again, Tami Graham.
GRAHAM: We didn't have to make any cuts. It's really amazing. We know that there's still a possibility there, but we have not had to make any cuts.
FOLKENFLIK: Many other stations have had to make cuts, often significant. And yet Graham's overall point is borne out across the country. Listeners, viewers and philanthropists have stepped up. All this would seem to confirm the position of some conservative critics who say people who value public media can open their own wallets. But will that last?
JENNIFER FERRO, BYLINE: What we're seeing is things are starting to float back down to where they were before.
FOLKENFLIK: This is Jennifer Ferro. She's CEO of KCRW in Los Angeles. Her station wasn't highly dependent on federal funds. Still, she cut 10% of her staff last year. Now KCRW is transforming itself to appeal to audiences old and new.
FERRO: We are focusing on being kind of a trusted cultural guide for information you need to know, music and food and film, and all the things that kind of make living in LA exciting and interesting. Because it's a hard place to live.
FOLKENFLIK: Things were worse over in Indiana. The Republican-dominated legislature killed state funding for public broadcasting ahead of the congressional vote. WNIN CEO Tim Black tells me the two together were like a punch to the solar plexus.
TIM BLACK, BYLINE: That was roughly half of my budget, a little less than half, but just knocking at the door of 50%.
FOLKENFLIK: He cut his staff at his joint PBS and NPR station in Evansville, Indiana. He expected to pull about $770,000 from a reserve fund, too, but Black hasn't had to touch a penny of it.
BLACK: To this point in the fiscal year, we've seen just a just above $1 million in local donations, which is probably a good 40% above what we would normally see in a fiscal year, where membership numbers are concerned.
FOLKENFLIK: And here's a funny wrinkle. That hostility from the state seems a little bit less carved in stone. Take this exchange from WNIN's public affairs show last month.
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PATRICK SHOULDERS: In our final 30 seconds, our station manager Tim Black wants us to encourage you to put Indiana Public Broadcasting stations back in your budget. Any hope?
FOLKENFLIK: Host Patrick Shoulders put the question squarely to Indiana Governor Mike Braun.
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MIKE BRAUN: I like the station and WNIN and public radio and TV. I like the programming.
FOLKENFLIK: Braun is a conservative Republican. He seemed pretty open to the idea.
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BRAUN: I like most of what's there. Whether it's going to get supported by government? We can afford it, probably. The federal government probably can't.
FOLKENFLIK: As things stand now, however, Tim Black will still have deficits next year, and so will many of his peers. So here's a way to think about all this. Despite dire predictions, public media outlets have largely not crashed from the sky - not yet. Instead, at station after station, it's a time of reinvention, innovation and definite, enduring anxiety. David Folkenflik, NPR News.
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MARTÍNEZ: No NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed that story before it aired.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNITED FUTURE ORGANIZATION SONG, "GOOD LUCK SHORE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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