WVIA Public Media is losing $1.2 million in funding — 20% of its operating budget — due to the U.S. House and Senate last week rescinding an allocation of $1.1 billion to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting.
“In an unprecedented action, Congress voted to claw back federal funding for public media,” WVIA president and CEO Carla McCabe said in message posted on Facebook. “Although this news is devastating for WVIA’s ongoing services, one thing is absolutely certain — our community stood with us in the fight to keep public media strong. Over the last few months. I’ve asked you to call and email elected officials to share your belief in the power and value of WVIA, and you did. … WVIA will weather this storm, will persevere and march forward, finding innovative solutions to continue our mission and services.”
WVIA-FM is a National Public Radio member affiliate owned by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Educational Television Association along with WVIA-TV, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate. WVIA is based in Jenkins Twp. and serves more than 22 counties in northeastern and central Pennsylvania.
McCabe added she will be “sharing more in the weeks and months ahead.” Nora Dillon, WVIA director of membership, posted a message on Facebook seeking donations from supporters.
“This devastating cut to critical funding for PBS, NPR, and local public media stations, including WVIA, puts vital services at risk, including the trusted news, educational resources and local storytelling that so many families across Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania rely on every day,” Dillon said. “Public media has always been about serving the public, not shareholders, not advertisers. But we can’t do it without you. Your support is more important now than ever.”
According to a 990 tax filing for the fiscal year ending in June 2023, the nonprofit owner of WVIA reported nearly $6.1 in revenue and $7.4 million in expenditures. Revenue from contributions was $4.1 million, and investment income was $1 million.
The organization had 71 employees with five receiving compensation of more than $100,000. McCabe had the highest compensation total listed at $247,781. Employee salaries and benefits cost more than $3.4 million.
Federal funding for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting will be eliminated for the first time since Congress created it in 1967, declaring that noncommercial TV and radio “for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes” was in the public interest.
“Why is the government still funding public television when most people have hundreds of channels? As has been mentioned to watch their news or whatever they want to watch. Just because it’s been around for 50 years, that’s not reason enough, unless we want to pass along $37 trillion and climbing of debt to our children,” U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-9, Jackson Twp., said from the House floor last week. “We have to start spending money on the must-haves, not on the nice-to-haves. And these stations are not only nice to have to some, they are not nice to have to most, and they are certainly not must-haves.”
The Corp. for Public Broadcasting administers funds for NPR radio stations and PBS TV affiliates.
“It’s very unfortunate what’s happened to NPR and the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. It is become a left-leaning media outlet,” U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, said on Fox News Sunday. “We’re in a country where you can have left-learning media, right-leaning media. What’s not OK is for the taxpayers to support it. So this has been something that conservatives have been focused on for many years. It’s only gotten worse. … this ensures that the taxpayers aren’t paying to have a political message drilled down their throats.”
The Senate voted early Thursday 51-48 for a $9 billion recession package, which clawed back previously approved funding for foreign aid programs and public media. The House approved the package after midnight Friday 216-213.