DENVER — The letter of the day is "D," for dissolved.
The agency that helped bring us Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, is no more. The leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) have voted to dissolve the organization.
Created in 1967, CPB was a private agency that steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, including more than 50 in Colorado.
In May, President Donald Trump gave final approval to strip CPB of all its funding. CPB had been winding down since then. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell.
“CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks,” said Patricia Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO.
Many Republicans have long accused public broadcasting, particularly its news programming, of being biased toward liberals but it wasn't until the second Trump administration — with full GOP control of Congress — that those criticisms were turned into action.
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Denver7 anchor Shannon Ogden reached out to Rocky Mountain PBS, the largest public broadcasting operation in Colorado, to get their reaction of the vote by CPB to dissolve. RMPBS leadership was not available for an interview. However, the company's president and CEO, Amanda Mountain, sent Ogden a statement:
"After 58 years serving all Americans with integrity, foresight and care, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will shut down. Even my deepest thanks feel inadequate, but I am sending them nonetheless alongside my sincerest hope for a brighter future for all who rely upon public media for community connection, trusted companionship and critical resources that improve and save lives. The task ahead is to steward decades of impact and service for future generations, regardless of whatever challenges exist and arise. Godspeed to us all! Failure is not an option.”
Rocky Mountain PBS receives roughly 10% of its annual funding from the federal government. In an additional statement to Ogden regarding its finances, RMPBS said this:
"In the past, federal dollars would have flowed to Rocky Mountain Public Media through an annual grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that underpins our statewide broadcasting infrastructure supporting the emergency alert system, children’s educational programming and outreach, and community journalism. Those grants accounted for about 10% of our annual operating budget, or roughly $3 million each year. The remaining 90% of our funding came from members, foundations, business sponsorships, and other earned revenue."
About two-thirds of CPB's annual $1.1billion in funding goes to about 1,500 locally operated public TV and radio stations. NPR radio stations rely on federal dollars for about 15% of their budgets.
