For more than 50 years, federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has sustained public media stations across the country — including Alaska Public Media (AKPM). Earlier this year, Congress rescinded that support, creating a significant gap in our annual budget.
To keep delivering the trusted journalism, educational programming, and cultural content Alaskans rely on — and to continue serving as a critical part of the Emergency Alert System that keeps communities safe during crises — we’ve had to make some hard choices, including pausing Alaska Insight and our educational camps and events.
In the first months since the cuts, community support has been remarkable. Together, we’ve raised more than half of this year’s budget gap through new and returning members, additional gifts, and increased monthly giving by Sustaining members. But more work lies ahead.
Emergency generosity can’t be our only solution. For long-term stability, we need to reach 15,000 members and for 1,600 Sustaining members to increase their monthly giving by June 2026. We’ve already grown from 10,700 members to more than 11,800, with over 400 Sustainers increasing their monthly gifts since the cuts occurred. We’re on our way — and with your help, we’ll get there.
Here’s how you can make the biggest impact:
- Start a monthly sustaining gift at $10 or more or increase your existing monthly gift by $5/month.
- Double your previous one-time or annual gift.
- Encourage friends and family to become members.
- Join our Leadership Circle with a gift of $1,000 or more.
- Share your story about what public media means to you.
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB): Independent nonprofit that distributed federal funding to local public media organizations nationwide for the past 50 years. They did not create programs or operate stations. CPB was specifically structured as an independent nonprofit to shield programming decisions from political influence. Local stations like AKPM operate independently, governed by boards drawn from our own communities, and guided by editorial policies that ensure content is free of undue influence.
- Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): A nonprofit program distributor that provides national television content to 350 member stations serving all 50 states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. All the stations work together to fulfill our mission – to provide trusted programming that is uniquely different from commercial broadcasting. PBS itself doesn’t produce programs.
- National Public Radio (NPR): A nonprofit producer and distributor of radio programming, supported by its more than 1,000 member and affiliate stations.
- Alaska Public Media (AKPM): Alaska’s local station, independently operated and community-supported. We deliver PBS and NPR content, plus original programming like Alaska News Nightly and Talk of Alaska. Member stations such as AKPM pay dues and fees to PBS and NPR to access and air their content while maintaining local autonomy and benefiting from the national programming and resources provided.
In July 2025, Congress rescinded over $1 billion in already approved annual funding (FY26 & FY27) for CPB at the request of the White House. This funding had long provided critical support for local stations like Alaska Public Media.
While that sounds like a big number, CPB represented less than one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget. Put another way, if the budget were a $100 bill, CPB’s share would have been less than a penny — about 0.008¢.
Just two months earlier, in May 2025, the Department of Education ended all Ready To Learn funding. That program supported children’s educational media, including initiatives tied to Molly of Denali and other community-based events. Its loss, combined with the rescission of CPB funding, compounds the challenges facing public media.
- We’ve put our long running public affairs program, Alaska Insight, on pause. For eight seasons, AKPM Chief Editor Lori Townsend explored the context behind Alaska’s headlines. Local television production is expensive and funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided the resources we needed to produce it.
- We’ve paused education camps and events. The discontinuation of the Ready To Learn grant supporting this work, and federal funding cuts, means we can no longer sustain these activities.
- We've put a hiring freeze on non-essential positions.
- We’re taking a close look at how we use all of our resources and taking our members and our community into consideration.
We will continue to update you on this webpage as further decisions are made.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private corporation created by Congress in 1967. Since that time it stewarded federal investment in public broadcasting and distributes funds to local stations; it’s separate from NPR and PBS and does not produce programs. CPB was specifically structured as an independent nonprofit to shield programming decisions from political influence. It did not own, control, oversee, or operate any broadcast stations or national distributors.
Rather than going directly to PBS and NPR, the vast majority of CPB funds flowed directly to public media organizations across the country, which are some of the few remaining locally-rooted media, particularly in rural, remote, and underserved communities. These organizations then decided how to best serve the public interest with those critical federal funds.
In August CPB announced that they will fully close on September 30, 2025.
Federal funding — which amounted to about $1.60 per person annually — enabled stations, especially in rural areas, to remain operational. Public media is free of commercial influence. Our mission is not to maximize profits but to serve the public good. That means prioritizing educational, cultural, and community-focused programming; maintaining high editorial standards; and ensuring access to everyone, regardless of income or location.
This funding served as a catalyst, attracting private donations and local support—amplifying its impact. Stations leverage each $1 of federal funding to raise nearly $7 from other sources — including members, philanthropic foundations, and private businesses — a tremendous return on the taxpayer investment.
Federal support helped sustain local journalism, educational programming, and emergency alerts—especially in rural and underserved areas. Without it, stations face serious challenges maintaining these services.
Federal seed funding made collaborations like the Alaska Desk possible, which increase reporting capacity statewide through shared editors/reporters and station partnerships.
At a time when trust in institutions is eroding and misinformation spreads rapidly, reliable, fact-based journalism and noncommercial educational content are more vital than ever.
Alaska Public Media and public media organizations across the country play a crucial role in the Emergency Alert System (EAS), providing lifesaving public safety communications to people and communities in times of local or national emergency, in partnership with federal, state, and local authorities.
Alaska Public Media received about $1.49 million annually, roughly 20% of our annual budget came from CPB grants. This went directly toward producing local content and allowed us to put reporters in the field throughout Alaska.
These funds supported the production of TV and video programs such as Alaska Insight and Indie Alaska; radio programs such as Talk of Alaska, Alaska News Nightly. It also helped fund in-person educational programs and events and pay for national content from PBS and NPR.
Our work is primarily funded locally by individual members, corporate sponsorship, and granting foundations.
Not in the near term. CPB will close on Sept. 30, 2025. Future funding depends on Congressional action and public advocacy.
No. We remain on the air and online and will continue to demonstrate the value of our service to Alaskans, and the vital role public media plays in communities nationwide. But the loss of federal funding means we will continue to face difficult decisions about programming and staffing until we are able to fill the gap.
To sustain our services and local news coverage long-term, AKPM needs to grow our membership by about 40%.
Community support in the form of financial contributions from individuals and major donors, along with sponsorships and underwriting from business supporters, will position AKPM to continue serving Alaskans with the high quality programs and local coverage that Alaskans expect and deserve.
These cuts are serious, but they do not define the future of public media. What defines us is the commitment to keep communities informed, educated, and connected.
No. PBS and NPR will continue. The loss of federal funding is devastating to the entire public media system, but AKPM and other local stations are committed to ensuring these national services remain available. Both organizations may adjust resources and programming, but their essential services will remain.
It’s important to note that the greatest strain will be felt by smaller and rural stations, which relied most heavily on federal support. These stations may face difficult choices in order to stay on the air.
Yes. Masterpiece, NOVA, NPR News, and BBC World Service will continue. With the exception of Alaska Insight, television and radio programming is otherwise unaffected at this time, thanks in large part to community support.
AK Passport streaming benefits also continue for members giving $5/month or more, providing on-demand access to an extended library of PBS shows and specials on connected TVs, the PBS website, mobile apps, and devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV.
PBS Kids remains one of the strongest parts of the public media system, and shows like Molly of Denali, Sesame Street, Arthur, and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood will continue to be available.
Earlier this year, the Department of Education also ended Ready To Learn funding — a program that had long supported children’s media like Molly of Denali — making community support more important than ever to sustain this work.
We’re focused on growing our member base to 15,000 by June 2026 and increasing monthly giving from 1,600 Sustainers.
Already, in the first two months since funding cuts, membership has grown from 10,700 to over 11,800, with more than 400 Sustainers increasing their gifts since the cuts. With steady support, we can close the gap.
While news is widely available, public media serves a unique role. Because it is non-commercial and mission-driven, it prioritizes community needs over profits. Public media provides fact-based journalism, free access to trusted educational programming, and cultural content that commercial outlets often overlook.
Projects like the Alaska Desk provide editing support and professional development to one- and two-person newsrooms, improving the depth and consistency of local coverage across the state. It reaches rural and underserved communities where few other media sources remain, ensuring everyone, everywhere has access to essential information.
Yes. Technology has expanded access to information, but it hasn’t solved the problems of misinformation, shrinking local journalism, paywalls, or the lack of coverage in rural areas. Public media continues to play a unique role by offering trusted, universally free content and educational programming that other outlets often cannot or do not provide.
Public media is free of commercial influence. Our mission is not to maximize profits but to serve the public good. That means prioritizing educational, cultural, and community-focused programming; maintaining high editorial standards; and ensuring access to everyone, regardless of income or location.
Cuts to federal funding will hurt smaller, rural communities the most, where local public media stations are often the last locally operated and locally controlled media sources. These stations operate on thin budgets—so cuts of this scale threaten their survival outright. These communities depend on public media for essential public services, from local journalism, education resources to public safety alerts and community connections.
Streaming is not a replacement for broadcast in Alaska. Even near our largest cities, broadband gaps remain. Over-the-air TV and radio are still the only reliable service in many rural areas, especially during emergencies.
By statute, CPB prioritized funding for public media organizations serving rural and remote communities. For some smaller organizations, this support accounted for 30 percent (or more) of revenue.
Given the troubled state of the journalism ecosystem today, federal cuts will likely accelerate the growth of news deserts. Nationally, and in Alaska, many news outlets have been decimated by cuts or have disappeared entirely. Others have survived through subscription models that limit information to only those who can afford it.
Sustaining the Alaska Desk helps keep rural and Indigenous communities connected by enhancing local reporting and sharing stories statewide.
Alaska Public Media also runs ARCS (Alaska Rural Communications Service) system, which reaches ~100 small communities with PBS, legislative coverage, public radio, education content, and permitted commercial rebroadcasts.
Even if you don’t listen or watch every day, your support sustains benefits for the whole community: early childhood education, emergency alerts, local journalism, and universal free access to trusted information. Supporting AKPM ensures these services remain available to all Alaskans, not just those who can afford them.
Through this webpage, newsletters and broadcasts. We'll update this page every couple of weeks or as information changes.
For a deeper dive into what’s at stake, watch the recorded panel discussion The Future of Public Media in Alaska — a candid and forward-looking conversation with PBS President Paula Kerger and Alaska's public media leaders about funding cuts, their impact on rural communities, and the partnerships working to sustain trusted journalism, education, and cultural connection across the state.