Public radio and television stations are scrambling to keep their disaster-warning systems alive after Congress passed the massive rescission bill last month that clawed back $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Along the Atlantic coast, station managers are seeing cuts take effect in the heart of hurricane season. Across the Northern Plains, managers warn that rural areas could be left without weather alerts during winter storms.
And PBS outlets in Northern California towns that can push alerts during an earthquake in seconds are now facing a complete shutdown. Without stations in cities like Eureka and Redding, which have lost over 40 percent of their operating budget, “those areas would basically go dark,” PBS SoCal President Andrew Russell said.
“Our community is going to hurt,” said Gretchen Gordon, general manager of KUAC in Alaska. “We’re not going to be the same, and it won’t be for lack of trying, but it’s just that we just can’t anymore.”
