What NPR Cuts Mean for KCLU and Public Radio on the Central Coast
Ryder Christ
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Congress has voted to rescind nearly $1.1 billion in funding for public media — a move that eliminates all federal support for NPR, PBS, and their member stations, including KCLU on the Central Coast.
House Republicans passed the spending cuts bill shortly after midnight Friday. Roughly $8 billion will be pulled from congressionally approved foreign aid programs as part of the White House’s broader effort to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. Another $1.1 billion will be cut from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS. President Trump, who proposed the cuts, is expected to sign the bill into law.
Mary Olson, general manager of KCLU, called it a “dark day for public media in our country” and said, “$300,000 is now gone immediately from our budget, so that’s quite a shortfall.” Despite the loss, Olson says no jobs or programs will be cut.
The cuts represent roughly 12% of KCLU’s annual operating budget. Olson said the station will now turn to its listeners for support.
“We are operating under the premise, effective immediately, that it’s going to be OK,” she said.
KCLU broadcasts across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, with coverage stretching from Santa Margarita to Agoura Hills. Olson said that despite the loss in federal support, that reach will remain unchanged.
“We’re not going to let that happen,” she said in response to whether the coverage area might be reduced. “They [KCLU reporters] are burning up the 101… getting local news, and we’re going to continue that coverage.”
The station’s news department is led by News Director Lance Orozco and Caroline Feraday, who produce award-winning local coverage.
“Newsrooms are dying across the United States. Local news is critical,” Olson said. “The last thing we need to do is think about cutting services or cutting back.”
KCLU plans to maintain current programming and staffing levels, unlike other NPR affiliates across the country that have already begun laying off employees and altering lineups due to similar cuts.
“Already today, I’ve been consoling general managers across the country that they’re having to lay off staff and they’ve already announced programming changes,” Olson said. “We have colleagues that have lost over 50% of their budget.”
KCLU, which has served the tri-counties for 30 years, remains optimistic that community support will help fill the funding gap.
“We’re going to just buck up. We’re going to find a way,” Olson said. “We’re going to keep on keeping on.”
KDRW (88.7 FM) in Santa Barbara and KCBX (90.1 FM) in San Luis Obispo also carry NPR programming.
The federal cuts to public broadcasting come as PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS organization, announces an expansion of coverage in the Santa Barbara region.
Channel 26 and Channel 56 will expand PBS’s over-the-air signal to communities in Lompoc, Vandenberg Space Force Base, Solvang, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Santa Maria to the north, and Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito, Summerland, Carpinteria, and Ventura to the south. Viewers will need to rescan their TVs to access the new channel options.
At the national level, here’s what might happen now that federal funding for public broadcasting has been zeroed out.
What will viewers and listeners notice?
Over time, some local stations may be forced off the air, while others may carry fewer shows or reduce their news and educational programming. The exact impacts are hard to predict because the public radio and TV system is decentralized and complex.
At the center of that system is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), an independent entity established by Congress in the 1960s to support local radio and TV stations across the U.S.
CPB has received $535 million in taxpayer support annually, which it distributed to about 1,500 local stations, programmers, and infrastructure providers. That funding has now been rescinded by congressional Republicans. Democrats opposed the move.
When will the cuts take effect?
Trump’s rescission targeted CPB’s federal funding for the period from October 2025 through September 2027, so stations are expected to face budget shortfalls beginning this fall. Some public media executives have already begun planning layoffs and cost-cutting measures.
While NPR and PBS affiliates do receive significant support from donations — including from “viewers like you” — the federal appropriation has historically served as the foundation of their operating model.
“For every public dollar provided, stations raise nearly seven dollars from donors, including state and local governments, universities, businesses, foundations, and individual viewers and listeners,” according to CPB.
Won’t the affected stations just raise more money from listeners?
Yes and no. Larger stations in metro areas may be able to recover lost revenue more easily. But smaller, rural, or economically disadvantaged stations tend to rely heavily on federal funding to keep their antennas powered and staff employed.
“Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down,” the Corporation for Public Broadcasting warned.
What about the national NPR and PBS networks?
In the public media system, federal dollars flow first to CPB, then to local stations — which in turn pay dues and fees to national networks like NPR and PBS. Those dues help fund national programming like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
NPR noted that while only 1% of its revenue comes directly from the federal government, about 30% of its funding comes indirectly through member station fees — which will likely be impacted by the CPB cuts.
NPR has warned that “elimination of federal funding would ultimately result in fewer programs, less journalism — especially local journalism — and eventually the loss of public radio stations, particularly in rural and economically distressed communities.”
Why are Republicans trying to strip the funding?
The vote marks the culmination of decades of conservative opposition to federal funding for public broadcasting. Critics argue that public media is unnecessary in the age of streaming and say taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for media content.
“Nowhere in the Constitution does it say Congress should fund a national media,” said the libertarian Cato Institute, which has long advocated for defunding CPB.
For Trump and many of his allies, the issue is also ideological. They claim NPR and PBS promote a liberal agenda — a charge both organizations deny. The Trump campaign has described public broadcasting as “radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”
Some moderate Republicans have expressed concern. Sen. Susan Collins called the cuts “excessive” and acknowledged that local stations “provide important coverage.” However, she said she still supported defunding NPR at the national level, citing concerns about bias.
After the House passed the bill with Senate revisions early Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson said: “The American people will no longer be forced to fund politically biased media.”
What are Democrats saying and doing?
Democrats were unable to block the bill, but they strongly defended the public media system. Sen. Maria Cantwell called the cuts a “reckless endangerment” of the roughly 13 million Americans who rely on public stations for emergency alerts and local reporting.
Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Trump of seeking to defund public media because, “like all authoritarians, he doesn’t like criticism or objective reporting.”
Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democrat on the Republican-controlled FCC, echoed that sentiment. “This isn’t about saving money,” she posted on X. “It’s about silencing those who report the news accurately, without fear or favor.”
CNN contributed to this report.