Already, in the early days of 2026, this is shaping up to be a historic year. On Monday, the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted unanimously to dissolve CPB. Although the organization did not directly produce any programming, for 58 years, the CPB worked to develop and sustain over 1,500 public media stations, including KRPS.
CPB was the federally funded non-profit that worked with stations, large and small, so that we could receive our annual grant in a timely manner. Every fall, KRPS and Pittsburg State staff would collaborate with an outside auditor to ensure the station spent the previous year's CPB grant in the correct manner and ensured financial transparency. Only after CPB staff approved PSU’s and KRPS’s documents would we receive our CPB grant during the winter months of the following year. On average, KRPS’s grant was ⅓ of our annual budget.
What will the end of CPB mean for KRPS?
The short answer is that it won’t affect anything.
After Congress approved and President Trump signed a $1.1 billion clawback of public media funds last summer (that’s two years of partial funding), the clock was ticking for when the CPB would be completely dissolved. The organization's primary function was to provide financial oversight of public media stations, whether they were affiliated with PBS or NPR. Without any current federal funding and the immediate future of federal funding extremely uncertain, there was only one course of action for CPB.
Also, CPB and NPR are completely separate entities. CPB and NPR have no oversight over KRPS’s program schedule, news coverage, or station operations.
KRPS is an independent listener-supported service of Pittsburg State.
Finally, 2026 is sure to be another challenging year in public media; however, we are ready to do what it takes to successfully navigate these historical times in non-commercial media.
Thank you,
Fred Fletcher-Fierro
KRPS GM
