With a TV schedule brimming with NPR and PBS programming, Alabama Public Television will be making cuts and attempting to make more Alabama-focused shows in light of the White House's funding cuts to the two media giants accused by President Donald Trump and others of pushing a biased agenda.
APTV’s executives went into overdrive in the lead-up to Trump’s rescission package, which clawed back $9 billion in earmarked federal funds nearly two weeks ago.
APTV executive director Wayne Reid authored a message to APTV subscribers urging them to contact their U.S. Senators and "make your voice be heard" regarding the cuts.
Despite the efforts, and after the bill’s passage, NPR and PBS parent company, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), announced on Friday that it was winding down operations after the cuts, which had previously been allocated $1.1 billion for the next two years.
APTV network director of external affairs Jack Williams spoke with 1819 News on Friday, before the announcement from CPB saying that, while he is “thankfully” not a part of the decision-making apparatus at the station, APTV brass are looking for ways to make cuts in light of the funding issues.
“Well, when you lose 13% of your funding, something will obviously change,” Williams said. “I couldn’t tell you what though.”
In a joint TV appearance with Williams and Reid, the pair acknowledged a bias problem at NPR and PBS. However, they also stated their efforts to always remind members of Congress of a difference between APTV and the two national stations.
Based on an analysis of the online guide, APTV’s programming almost exclusively runs national programming. The percentage of state-based programs in the week, by number of airings, is approximately 3.4%, comprising seven out of 206. The remaining 96.6% is national programming from sources like PBS.
Williams believes there will be a change to increase state-focused programming, which he says has been a priority for APTV for some time.
“I do think that it will alter how we do some of our programming.” Williams continued. “And we’ve been looking for a long time into how we have more local programming, more Alabama programming. That’s part of the reason we got into high school and community college sports. We wanted to make our programming more relatable to the local communities.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
