The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which supports hundreds of local stations like Smith’s across rural America, lost $1 billion in funding under President Donald Trump’s new tax and spending bill signed in July.
The bill, formally known as a rescissions act, allowed Congress to claw back already-approved funds. In late September, the tap officially ran dry.
Trump’s administration has made no secret of its disdain for public media. After repeatedly accusing outlets like PBS and NPR of “liberal bias,” the White House issued an executive order in May to defund them, a move quickly blocked in court because Congress controls the purse strings.
When that failed, Trump turned to Congress. Republicans revived the proposal as part of the rescissions bill, citing a White House report that cherry-picked segments about transgender rights and other social issues as evidence of bias. The report leaned heavily on the Media Research Center, a conservative group that openly campaigns to “promote traditional values.”
The cuts landed hardest on small-town stations that rarely cover national politics at all. Allegheny Mountain Radio, a network of three affiliates across rural West Virginia and Virginia, mostly airs folk and gospel music, high school football, and local town meetings. But when storms roll in, it becomes the region’s only real-time emergency service.
The station operates inside the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) near the Green Bank Observatory, where cellphone and wireless signals are restricted to protect sensitive astronomical equipment. That means no smartphones, no reliable internet, and often no other way to get breaking news.
With no commercial incentive for private radio to move in, public media remains the area’s only communications backbone. Losing federal funds doesn’t just threaten programming, it threatens community safety.
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