How PBS, NPR Funding Cuts Could Affect Country & Roots Music

Radio/Media 121 Comments

Both Kelsey Waldon (left) and Charley Crockett (right) receive radio play through NPR affiliates. Charley Crockett has performed on PBS’s Austin City Limits


For decades, whenever the federal budget came due in the United States, threats to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were bandied about, especially when Republicans were in charge. Much was made over the political bias of PBS and NPR—which is true—inspiring budget hawks to threaten slashing funding. Meanwhile, others spoke up over the importance of PBS and NPR to local communities, especially rural ones—which is also true—and the cuts would never go through.

Well in 2025, they finally did. Congress passed a law to eliminate all public broadcasting funding to the tune of $1.1 billion in savings. Interestingly though, the funding cuts currently only last for the next two years, meaning they’re temporary for now.

One defense NPR always brought up for itself in these budget battles was to cite how only 2% of its national budget was publicly funded. But of course, this argument works both ways. If public funding was only 2%, why would it be existential to do without it? As NPR journalist David Folkenflik explains,

“While NPR receives just a small amount of direct federal government support, PBS and local stations rely on it far more heavily. For public radio stations, federal funding makes up, on average, 8-10% of their budgets; for PBS and its member stations, the figure stands on average at about 15%. But that level varies widely. Executives at small stations — especially those that serve rural or tribal audiences — warn they could be devastated or even knocked off the air when aid from Washington fails to arrive.”

For independent country and roots music, this threat to NPR stations plays an outsized role. Not only are some of the most robust NPR affiliates located in rural areas, NPR stations make up a large portion of the infrastructure for Americana radio, which in turn comprises a large, non-commercial alternative to the rabidly commercial radio of the country mainstream.

Where you’d never hear many of the artists you read about on Saving Country Music on your local country radio station, you very well might on the local NPR affiliate. Where country radio refuses to play singles from many of the women in country music, Americana has. Charley Crockett has achieved multiple #1 songs and #1 albums on the Americana radio chart, and is a favorite of the format, for example.

Currently in the Top 20 of the Americana Radio Albums chart, artists like the Turnpike Troubadours, Jesse Daniel, Kelsey Waldon, Tami Neilson, James McMurtry, and The Shootouts appear.

WXPN out of the University of Philadelphia is a major supporter of independent country and roots music. Roots Radio WMOT 89.5 out of middle Tennessee is the largest Americana radio station in the United States. Austin’s KUT and KUTX that support Texas artists say they will lose $1.1 million annually in the budget cuts. WAMU 88.5 FM in Washington, DC operates one of the biggest bluegrass radio stations in the world, including a 24/7 station at bluegrasscountry.org.

On the television side with PBS, you have critically-important programming such as Austin City Limits. “This is a kick in the gut, and it really does hurt,” says Terry Lickona, ACL‘s long-time Executive Producer. The show will lose a reported $3 million out of their operating budget due to the federal cuts. That makes up about 25% of their operating costs to produce 20 artist tapings, and 13 original shows per year.

Luckily, at this point, no specific station or program is proclaiming they’re doomed, though belt tightening and budget cutting are definitely on the way. NPR is no stranger to these actions, laying off 10% of their music staff in 2023 alone.

One way NPR and PBS could have insulated themselves from accusations of political bias was to try and diversify newsrooms with reporters of more varied and agnostic political ideologies. After all, these accusations have been evergreen against these outlets for decades. But despite the bias accusations being central to the threats of the public funding, this never happened. Often it’s not how NPR covers certain stories, but what they choose to cover, and what they choose not to cover where this bias comes through.

In fact, a strong case can be made that NPR’s bias has only become more pronounced and entrenched over time. It was discovered recently that NPR’s current CEO Katherine Maher specifically called out President Trump in a series of tweets she’s since said she regrets. When ABC’s Terry Moran made lesser comments about Trump advisor Stepher Miller recently, he was let go, as would be customary with any major media outlet.

NPR has stuck by Katherine Maher who unfortunately has been unable to lead NPR into calmer waters. Some dispute NPR’s alleged political bias. But for any objective observer, it’s about as clear as the bias nature of Fox News. If there is a silver lining of the budget cuts, it’s that without public funding, NPR and PBS can take whatever slant they want with their programming. It was the public funding that made this slant concerning.

A parallel phenomenon that has been putting pressure on NPR is the diminishing importance of radio—something the country music industry knows very well. Similarly, television is also a slowly dying medium as Internet programming and YouTube podcasts continue to dominate more and more of the American attention span. Though some love to characterize PBS and NPR as irreplaceable, they’re quickly becoming obsolete. This was also part of the calculus behind the recent decision by CBS to end The Late Show.

And even though NPR and PBS receive public funding, viewers and listeners still interface with plenty of corporate sponsorship reads that might as well be commercials, along with seemingly incessant pleas for donations and membership with the ever-present refrain of existential threats looming over programs, stations, and the entire public broadcasting format.

Austin City Limits was originally founded to focus on musicians from the Austin music scene and give them a national platform. While worthy bands like Silverada and Shane Smith & the Saints still wait for their opportunity, big national names such as Billie Ellish, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar perform on the program to entice corporate underwriters, which is code from commercial sponsors. Unfortunately, despite the public funding, some of these NPR/PBS programs still participate in clout chasing.

While Austin City Limits was running a budget deficit of $350,000 even before the recent cuts, they also have a licensing agreement with Live Nation for the multi-weekend Austin City Limits Festival each year in October. Live Nation made $23.16 billion in total revenue in 2024. Perhaps since they’re exploiting the Austin City Limits name, Live Nation should step up to help the program that made the ACL brand so valuable.

For some consumers, it’s easy to cast off PBS and NPR as unnecessary in the internet age—especially those who never take advantage of PBS or NPR programming. It’s also easy to sit back and second guess some of the organization’s moves and decisions, especially over the last few years.

But those who utilize WMOT as a resources to find their next favorite artist, enjoy Austin City Limits when they do have a new artist perform worthy of discovery, or take advantage of a local NPR affiliate’s rural farm and ranch reports and emergency warnings, these are invaluable institutions that if they go away, will be difficult to impossible to replace.

It’s true that as time goes on, the Internet is slowly replacing all of these outlets and resources, though sometimes with inferior options. Again, at the moment, the funding cuts hurt, but have not resulted in any major cancellations or shuttering of affiliates. But that doesn’t mean the funding cuts won’t affect American life in fundamental ways, especially when it comes to infrastructure supporting music that otherwise wouldn’t be heard on airwaves or seen on television at all.

© 2025 Saving Country Music

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