KGW
By Evan Watson, KGW News
WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (KGW) — A tribal radio station serving Central Oregon will cut services and programming after losing 40% of its annual budget in federal funding cuts to public broadcasting.
KWSO 91.9 FM broadcasts from a hill on the Warm Springs Reservation, home to three Confederated Tribes.
“We’re a small station in a small place, a little off the beaten path,” station manager Sue Matters said. “We do our own local newscast — we can cover Warm Springs better than anybody.”
KWSO airs free music and news at all hours, with Matters proud of local reporters who share what’s happening in a Warm Springs community that can feel isolated.
“That’s who’s recording language lessons; that’s who’s doing interviews with elders,” she said. “In rural Oregon and probably rural America, mainstream media doesn’t necessarily show up unless something very bad has happened.”
The station operates on a budget of roughly $600,000 per year, with roughly 40% funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through a community service grant.
That money is now gone, after Congress voted to approve President Trump’s request to claw back more than a billion dollars appropriated for public broadcasting stations across the country.
RELATED: PNW mainstay radio stations take budget hits from Trump funding cuts
“I don’t think people hate public radio at all, and certainly, we don’t even hardly sound like public radio,” Matters said. “It’s just the national political narrative.”
The federal cuts threaten the jobs of two of KWSO’s six employees, jobs which Matters said she’s determined to save through other funding, but instead, she’ll need to make cuts.
Those cutbacks could include the station’s automated content delivery system, national news programming, tribal news programming, connection to a public radio satellite system, engineering and maintenance contracts, and the station’s website, streaming and app offerings.
“We’re going to have to move forward, and tribal people are kind of used to having to do that,” Matters said.
A station for a community
On a sunny July afternoon in Warm Springs, community members met at the pavilion for a Thursday market.
Local artists sold their latest work, the High Desert Food and Farm Alliance offered bags of free vegetables and produce, and tribal leaders offered community members free gun safes — part of a violence prevention campaign.
“The safety is a big thing, especially for our Native people on our lands,” said Andy Leonard, a suicide prevention coordinator.
In the corner of the open-air market, Matters and her colleagues at KWSO sat a table of their own, offering concert tickets to local listeners.
Nearby, Paige Hurtado, who works for a clean drinking water project in Warm Springs, talked about a recent survey that his organization conducted.
“One of the questions was ‘How do the majority of people get their news sources?’ and the most popular answer was actually our local radio station: KWSO,” Hurtado said.
Hurtado says the Warm Springs community would be vulnerable without local news options like KWSO.
“[We’d] be crippled, disjointed and lack access,” Hurtado said.
Caroline Cruz, the Health and Human Services General Manager for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, said KWSO has the community’s trust — especially in wildfire season.
“We had the two major fires going on just this past weekend,” Cruz said. “We know if we tune in to KWSO, they’re going to have the most up-to-date information.”
For other community members, the radio station is simply a connection to the past.
“For one thing, you know, it’s home,” said Jeannie Brisbois, who has lived in the Warm Springs area for 24 years. “They interviewed my dad a long time ago, so every once in a while on Veteran’s Day, I get to hear his voice. It means a lot.”
Next steps
Despite the loss of CPB community service grant funding, Matters said she is still determined to keep KWSO on the air
“One hundred percent, we are going to continue to operate — it’s just at what level,” she said.
The expectation is that KWSO will lose access to national news and tribal networks, including Native America Calling and National Native News, programs that hold cultural value for residents.
The station may also lose its automated content delivery system and be pushed into making cuts to repairs and maintenance, the station’s website, streaming, app and community projects.
Without sacrifices, the high desert could be at risk of becoming a news desert.
“There would be a void where probably incorrect information will grow, you know?” she said.
Matters said for the tribal-owned station, the challenge feels familiar.
“It’s nothing new for Indian Country. I mean, Indian Country is usually the last to get things from the federal government,” Matters said. “You’ve just got to have the faith that you can battle to get things back.”
That includes seeking more funding from the tribes and applying for more grants.
Matters said KWSO has received an uptick in donations and contributions since the federal government cut public broadcasting, but she’s doubtful that interest will be sustainable.
Meanwhile, she and her staff fight for a radio station that’s known just as much for providing community updates, as providing community tables at the Thursday market.
“That’s not going to stop us,” Cruz said. “As Indian people, we are very resilient. We just survive. We go on.”
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