KUNM will lose 12% of its budget, or about $275,000, after the House and Senate passed the rescission bill that was put forth at the request of President Donald Trump. The station’s new General Manager, Jeff Pope, said the cut could have drastic effects, but remains confident the station will find a way to forge ahead.
The rescission bill repeals $9 billion in funds already approved by Congress, including $1.1 billion of which was destined for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to support NPR, PBS and local public media organizations across the country.
Pope said the money KUNM receives from the CPB goes to cover daily operating expenses, and pays for national programming like Native America Calling, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and more.
“We're self-sustaining. Even though we're on the campus of the University of New Mexico, we have to sustain all of our operations by ourselves. So we only get to spend what we make here,” he said, “and so losing $275,000 out of a $2.2 million budget is a big chunk of change.”
And it’s not just news and talk radio at risk. Pope says the CPB brokers and pays for music licensing for local stations, which might be something stations will have to handle on an individual basis, including KUNM. That could impact the type of music and cultural programming that gets broadcast.
However, Pope says KUNM will look for new ways to cover the lost funding, engaging more with the audience, donors, sustaining members and underwriters.
“So we're going to go to the partners, and we're going to go to our donors and say, ‘Please help us move forward and get through this loss’” he said. “And I am really excited. I know that we'll get through this, and I know that we’ll not just survive — our goal is to thrive.”
Over 60 years KUNM has built a strong relationship with the community, and Pope said he plans to strengthen that bond even further.
“If all of our donors just gave $4 more each month, we would have this gap covered,” he said. “Give what you can, give the best you can and tell your neighbor it matters now more than ever.”
Mia Casas contributed to this reporting. Under KUNM’s policy for reporting on itself, no upper management reviewed this content before it was posted publicly. Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and listeners like you.
