Radio supporters fight proposed cuts
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TweetKHNS is bracing for another year of potential budget cuts after the Senate Finance Subcommittee again proposed to defund public broadcasting across the state.
As the Alaska Legislature continues to confront its budget deficit, cuts have dried up funding to programs and agencies across the state. Three years ago, KHNS received $133,000 from the legislature. Funding decreased to $109,000 the next year and this year it sunk to $75,000.
The local radio station discontinued Public Radio International as its distribution outlet and had to lose some if its part-time staff to deal with the cuts.
President Trump has also proposed to completely cut public media in his budget. But even if Congress chooses to fund public media, KHNS could still lose federal support, KHNS general manager Kay Clements said.
This fiscal year, state and federal funding made up about 53 percent of KHNS’ $375,000 budget – the rest comes from donor support.
“If we have to take another $75,000 off of our budget, the biggest thing that will happen is that we’ll be at risk of losing our federal money because we have to reach a certain level of non-federal income to be eligible for federal income,” Clements said.
In the past, local business and individual support combined with state funding has allowed KHNS to meet that threshold.
Clements said nothing is set in stone, and many people, as in years past, are working on public radio’s behalf in the state and federal government. Cuts of 100 percent have been proposed previously. The cuts are usually overturned before the budget is finalized, although stations across the state lose money every year.
“I don’t think this should be a death knell for us,” Clements said.
“These are ongoing negotiations and we just have to be vigilant about making sure that they understand the value from our listeners and members and doing what we can to let them know how important it is. I don’t feel like it’s a lost cause. At this point I feel like it’s just part of the changes that are going on all over the country and we just have to be vigilant.”
Norm Smith was the local radio station’s first paid staff member and he’s intermittently worked and volunteered at the station for more than 30 years.
“Public broadcasting has always been the low-hanging furit,” Smith said. “That’s the nature of the business and it’s always the guys in the big cities that want to do that. If you took the cell phone away from those guys and put them in a place where there’s no televisions, then they’ll wish they had public broadcasting.”
