Public radio and TV stations in Oregon took a big financial hit when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting shut down on Oct. 1 after being defunded by the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress. CPB provided up to 98% of all funding to dozens of stations in the state in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available for all stations.

The good news? Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), the largest recipient of CPB funds in the state, has already raised through an emergency fundraising drive most of the $5 million it will lose from CPB in the new fiscal year. This will allow the Portland-based nonprofit organization not to only escape service cuts but also to continue the plan it launched several years ago to greatly expand its statewide news coverage, at least for now.

“We are very grateful for the support, although we will need to continue raising more funds in coming years,” OPB President and CEO Rachel Smolkin told Oregon ArtsWatch. The loss represented 9% of the organization’s budget for the current fiscal year.

“This is a new chapter for OPB. It comes with challenges, but we are committed continuing our mission with public support.”

The bad news? Most, if not all, of the other stations in Oregon must not only significantly increase their fundraising but likely will have to cut their budgets to keep the doors open. All of those who responded to a statewide email survey by ArtsWatch said they have also launched emergency fundraising drives but are worried about future service reductions.

KBOO-FM, a community radio station in Portland, lost approximately $110,000, which is more than 9% of its budget.

“We will assess our progress throughout the year and decide if spending cuts are needed quarterly. The first big decision point will be after December, since the last few months of our year are when our donors support us the most,” said Nathan Vandiver, station manager of KBOO-FM in Portland. “That said, it’s going to take time to replace the federal funding cut. For a station of our size, this effort will be yearlong, then we will have to do it again. For stations of any size, it’s a loss of a reliable revenue stream.”

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KRVM-FM in Eugene lost approximately 20% of its budget when its $186,000 CPB grant was not renewed. Station manager Stu Grenfell said all capital construction and improvement projects were placed on hold while an emergency fundraising drive was launched that so far has replaced around 35% of the loss.

“If the momentum continues, we should be able to sustain where we’re at. If not, we’ll have to look at such things as dropping our coverage in Reedsport, Coos Bay, Florence, and Oak Ridge,” Grenfell said.

According to Grenfell, although such decisions would be difficult, KRVM-FM is in better shape than many of the other approximately 1,300 independent stations like his around that country that had been depending on the CPB for 40% to 60% of their financing.

KWAX, the classical radio station at the University of Oregon, lost $104,000. Up until then, it had been almost entirely self-supported, with only a small slice of revenue from the university’s general fund, said Interim Station Manager George Evano.

“So far listeners have been very supportive, with many first-time donors, and many others who increased their gifts, specifically saying they gave in response to the loss of CPB,” Evano said. “My greater concern is longer term. Will donors’ strong response to the loss fade over time? Will the shortfall it has caused in our community create donor fatigue and limit the collective support from public radio listeners?” He added that deferring maintenance is already being considered.

Oregon ArtsWatch first reported that the CPB would close on Aug. 1, saying, “Public radio and television have been targeted for decades by right-wing politicians, who have declared that the stations are too liberal and are unfair to conservative and right-wing causes — charges that the stations and their supporters have largely denied. But this year’s actions, pushed by the Trump Administration and rubber-stamped by Congress, which had earlier approved funding, were the first to cause such chaos, and they have the potential to see the nation’s public broadcasting system dismantled.”

At that time, the story reported that All Classical Radio in Portland had lost $1 million in previously approved funding and Jefferson Public Radio in Southern Oregon would lose $1 million in each of the next two years. Both have since launched emergency fundraising drives but are facing tough budget decisions.

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History of public broadcast funding

Congress established the CPB in 1967 as a private, nonprofit corporation to be the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. For nearly six decades, its mission was to ensure universal access to noncommercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It became the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services, eventually distributing more than 70% of its funding directly to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations across the country. It closed after losing $1.1 billion in federal funds.

In Oregon, the funding had gone to several different kinds of nonprofit media organizations in urban and rural areas. They included: major broadcasters with a well-staffed website, like OPB; regional radio stations with a robust website, like Jefferson Public Radio; community radio stations, like KBOO, KMUN in Astoria, and KWAX in Eugene; tribal stations, like KWSO in Warm Springs and KCUW in Pendleton; and specialty stations like All Classical Radio and KMHD, a jazz station, both in Portland.

According to a July 29, 2025, Axios report, CPB grants made up about 10.3% of U.S. public TV stations’ overall funding in fiscal 2023, and 4.1% of radio station budgets. In Oregon, the share ranged from 2.1% of KOPB-FM’s budget to 98% of the budget of KCUW-FM in Pendleton.

“Rural stations tend to be more reliant on federal dollars — like KCUW, which serves the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation — while also serving key roles for local news and emergency broadcasts, including weather and AMBER alerts,” Axios reported.

National fundraising rescue effort

In response to the loss of federal funds, Public Media Company, a public media consulting firm, agreed to manage an emergency Bridge Fund to support those stations most dependent on CPB funds. An analysis conducted identified 78 radio and 37 TV organizations that were at risk of going dark. In some cases, those organizations operate multiple stations, extending their reach.

The two tribal radio stations in Oregon were on the list. Neither responded to the Oregon ArtsWatch survey and followup phone calls.

The fund hopes to distribute $50 million this year for stations that received 30% or more of their budgets for the CPB. Applications open on Oct. 15.

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According to The New York Times, several major foundations have already committed to the fund. The Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Pivotal Ventures and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have already committed nearly $27 million. The MacArthur Foundation is also making a $10 million contribution unrelated to the fund to support public media.

“We believe it’s crucial to have a concerted, coordinated effort to make sure that the stations that most critically need these funds right now have a pathway to get them,” Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation, told The New York Times. 

Southern Oregon PBS is hoping to tap the fund to stay whole after avoiding cuts through a combination of increased support and reduced expenses, including two retirements.

“We are looking at other cost-saving options and new sources of revenue, such as the Public Media Bridge, to build a sustainable model beyond this fiscal year,” said CEO Phil Meyer.