Hello everyone, Fred here with some challenging news to share
On Thursday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as public television and radio stations across the country, were dealt a severe blow.
H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, has passed 214-212 in the House of Representatives, and will now move for a vote in the Senate. The deadline for passage in the Senate is July 18, 2025, for a rescission to take effect.
This means that KRPS’s Corporation for Public Broadcasting Community Service Grant is now officially in peril. About ⅓ of the KRPS annual budget relies on the CSG grant. Paying for programming salaries and equipment repair.
Behind the scenes, I’ve been planning that the House would pass H.R. 4 and that we’d be in this exact situation. To prepare for the future I’ve had to make difficult programming choices that will allow KRPS to save tens of thousands of dollars.
Effective Monday, June 30, 2025, KRPS will no longer broadcast the BBC World Service.
For years the BBCWS has been a costly service for KRPS to subscribe to. It’s even more challenging when the BBC primarily airs from 12 am to 4 & 5 a.m. Also, to air the BBCWS is an all-or-nothing proposition. Unfortunately, KRPS cannot subscribe to just the hours we want to air, stations must purchase the entire World Service schedule. All 168 weekly hours.
I had to make these decisions long before the H.R. was debated and voted on. Our contracts have a 90-day out window that we must provide distributors so that they in turn can make future plans.
Starting Monday, June 30 at midnight. KRPS will welcome WFMT’s Jazz Network weekdays airing from 11 pm to 4 a.m. Saturdays from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. and Sundays from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m.
Also effective on June 30, KRPS will return NPR’s Here & Now, weekdays starting at 11 am.
Untouched is KRPS’s core news programming i.e. NPR’s Morning Edition & All Things Considered. The World from GHB & PRX and Today, Explained will also remain on KRPS.
The vast majority of our programming schedule will also remain unchanged, including shows like Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me… This American Life, No Small Endeavor, Zorba Paster On Your Health, You Bet Your Garden and so much more.
Also unaffected are changes to KRPS’s staff, our strong relationships with the Kansas News Service, and public radio stations across Missouri that assist each other in covering both states.
Also, this summer KRPS will relaunch its All Classical HD-2 channel with the complete WFMT catalog of classical music shows.
There is an opportunity that H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025 is denied in the Senate and KRPS could receive its CPB CSG for 2026 - 2027.
The deadline for passage in the Senate is July 18, 2025, for a rescission to take effect.
Visit Protectmypublicmedia.org to learn more, also how to contact your Senator to tell them that you support KRPS and public media.
Thank you,
Fred Fletcher-Fierro
KRPS General Manager
