BILLINGS — Public radio and television stations across the United States could face critical challenges if Congress proceeds with potential budget cuts exceeding $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Jackie Coffin, news director of Yellowstone Public Radio (YPR), emphasized the essential role public broadcasting plays in local and rural communities.
Watch YPR news director discuss potential cuts:
"We provide a wide breadth of programming to a lot of different people in different places," Coffin said on Wednesday. "The emergency alert system is really critical in public broadcasting. That is something that, in a lot of places, only public media provides, especially when you get into really rural areas."
Coffin, who has worked at multiple media outlets in Montana, including MTN News and MontanaPBS, advocates for access to information and education for all, regardless of geographic location.
"It's not an exaggeration to say that in Montana, people listen to us in their tractors," Coffin said. "If public media went away, that's vital information, educational programming that people rely on without paywalls through diverse areas, rural communities, that would go away too."
Currently, YPR receives approximately 8% of its $2.2 million annual operating budget from CPB in the form of community service grants. Should the proposed Rescissions Act pass, YPR could lose up to $270,000 in annual funding, which is crucial for licensing and acquiring programming content.
"It's stressful. Of course, it's stressful," Coffin said. "We're here to serve the public. We have a public service mission. There are a lot of people who rely on us to bring news and critical information, enjoy an entertainment to their lifestyles and their daily lives, and we're going to keep doing that, regardless of what action the Senate may or may not take."
Despite the possible cuts, Coffin asserts that YPR will remain on air, committed to serving 30 counties in Montana and four in Wyoming. Founded in 1972 on the MSU Billings campus (then known as Eastern Montana College) YPR has evolved from a small one-office operation to a vital media outlet, thanks in part to community supporters such as the late Joe Sample, the founder of MTN News and a longtime public-radio supporter.
It's the community support that YPR will continue to seek out if Congress passes the budget cuts. Lawmakers are pushing towards a vote as they look to beat a Friday deadline, making some of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts permanent and cutting around $9 billion in previously approved spending. Most of the cuts are aimed at foreign aid programs, but more than a billion dollars would impact public broadcasters. The measure is now in the hands of the Senate, after Vice President JD Vance delivered the tie-breaking vote Tuesday to advance the package. A final vote in the Senate could happen late Wednesday night, but it would then return to the House for another vote there.
"We will not leave our communities, but there are other stations, other states, other communities whose stations take much larger percents of their operating budget from the CPB," Coffin said. "We're gonna have to just make broad considerations of what we will do to fill the gap in funding, though our goal would be first to reach out to people who support us already or are interested in supporting us to try to bring in new streams of revenue to fill that gaping hole in our budget."
As the debate continues in Congress, Coffin and her team at YPR remain vigilant, looking for new ways to connect with audiences and adapt to a changing media landscape, regardless of what the future holds.
"We're going through a big digital transformation project," Coffin said. "Something positive to look at, this year will be one of change for Yellowstone Public Radio regardless of our funding situation. We are looking at new ways of reaching our audience, new ways to do the news that's meaningful."
