“In a lot of markets, the only place for real in-depth local coverage is the PBS station, the only place for arts
and culture, the only place for safe harbor for kids.”
Ira Glass, host of “This American Life,” which does not receive any federal money, said, “Big stations in big cities will
certainly be fine, especially in blue cities, where listeners will surely step up to replace any money that goes away.”
But the proposed cuts, Mr. Glass added in an email, could make it far more difficult for producers to begin ambitious new national programming.
Patricia Harrison, the corporation’s president, warned in a statement on Thursday
that the Trump budget proposal, if enacted, could cause “the collapse of the public media system itself.”
But the power players in public broadcasting — big-city staples like WNYC in New York City — would be well-equipped to weather any cuts.
“If the beach washes out, the little houses go first,” he said, “but then the big houses go after that.”
A version of this article appears in print on March 17, 2017, on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Radio
and Television; Public Broadcasters Fear a ‘Collapse’.
“It’s not like cutting this would have any appreciable effect on any taxpayer across the country,
but losing PBS would,” Neal Shapiro, president of WNET in New York, said in an interview.
The potential elimination of about $445 million in annual funding, which helps local TV
and radio stations subscribe to NPR and Public Broadcasting Service programming, could be devastating for affiliates in smaller markets that already operate on a shoestring budget.
