We strongly urge Congress to reject destructive proposals to rescind, cut or eliminate public media funding. Cutting federal funding would leave many Americans, especially those in rural states, without the critical services local public television stations provide, from lifesaving public safety services and proven education resources to essential local services.
For about $1.60 per American per year, and less than .01% of the federal budget, the federal investment in public broadcasting allows our local station, WTCI-PBS, to provide critical services through public safety partnerships, trusted educational services, and homegrown programming.
As some of the last locally owned media, local public media stations provide lifesaving public safety communications and services in partnership with federal, state, and local authorities. This includes traditional alerts and warnings in communities that may have no other local broadcasters, as well as cutting edge technology that helps first responders communicate with each other over the broadcast spectrum without the need for mobile service or broadband. This technology, and public television’s public safety partnerships, is already helping with early earthquake warnings and has been proven effective in a wide range of scenarios where broadband or cellular service are limited, including: rural search and rescue, over water communications and large event crowd control.
Public television’s infrastructure through PBS WARN, also provides an essential pathway for the distribution of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs), enabling cell subscribers nationwide to receive geo-targeted text messages in the event of an emergency — reaching them wherever they are in times of crisis. PBS WARN, also provides the only nationwide situational awareness tool used by public safety officials to track and monitor the effectiveness of those alerts.
Cuts to public broadcasting funding would significantly jeopardize public safety across the country. Equally as devastating would be the loss of educational and local programming.
For over 55 years, WTCI-PBS has provided educational programming for young children, the hallmark of public television. It has also supported families with proven educational tools that have helped parents be their kids’ first teachers while preparing multiple generations to learn in school and succeed in life.
Public media’s early childhood educational television programming — accessible for free every day in every household — is ranked #1 by parents for helping prepare children for school. And public television provides critical education resources for the over 50% of 3–4-year-olds in the U.S. who do not attend preschool.
The WTCI-PBS education team and community partners are acutely focused on the early learning needs of children and their families. Our family and community learning neighborhood workshops are designed to foster multigenerational learning for children, ages 2 through 8, in areas that include functional literacy and career readiness. We serve students, educators, and families through school visits, field trips, station tours, career days, library visits, and more.
Local public media stations connect communities, celebrate hometown heroes and local history, and shine a light on the people, places, stories and issues that are at the heart of our community.
WTCI-PBS regularly broadcasts original, award-winning programming about our local history and culture. “Chattanooga: Stronger Together” has profiled the work of over 75 nonprofit organizations in our community, and “The A List” with Alison Lebovitz is now in its 16th season. Over the years, the series has featured engaging one-on-one interviews with a long list of local and national personalities that includes Leslie Jordan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dr. Ben Carson, Paul Barys, Phil Fulmer, Béla Fleck, Ken Burns, Corky Coker, Ruth Holmberg, Sen. Bill Frist, and many more.
Federal funding for public media is irreplaceable and essential to local public media stations like WTCI-PBS and the existence of the public media system as a whole.
For the 22nd year in a row, public television was ranked #1 in public trust among a consideration set that included commercial cable and broadcast television, newspapers, streaming services, and others, with 85% of Americans agreeing that PBS stations provide an excellent value to their local community.
Public media has earned the broad support of the American people, across the political spectrum, including 65% of people who voted for President Trump who think public television is either adequately funded or underfunded, according to a recent YouGov survey.
That bipartisan support in the public has been consistently reflected in Congress, which most recently approved a Continuing Resolution (CR) for fiscal year 2025 that extended public media funding into 2027.
We urge Congress to reject any rescission of funds for public media and continue to support local stations’ ability to provide essential services to communities across the country.
Bob Culkeen, is WTCI president and CEO; Cindy Todd, is chair of the WTCI board of directors; and Dr. Jeff Gefter is board vice chair.