WABE-FM CEO Jennifer Dorian said on Wednesday’s episode of the “Politically Georgia” podcast that the station is shifting strategy to address the recent federal cuts to public broadcasting.
“As we go from 87% community funded to 100% community funded, we will be 100% independent,” Dorian told AJC journalists Tia Mitchell and Greg Bluestein. “And I view that as a silver lining in this entire transition.”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service, and local radio and television stations, was due to receive $550 million a year in federal funding for the next two years. But last week, Congress clawed back those funds at the encouragement of President Donald Trump.
WABE is an Atlanta NPR affiliate and is one of the 1,500 member stations affected by federal cuts.
“We will not be getting a check from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this October for $1.9 million,” said Dorian. “And as an executive director of a nonprofit, that’s pretty crushing.”
The station, which features a variety of news and arts programming, cut nine employees last November and trimmed another six in April.
Dorian said WABE will be able to sustain its operations, but she worries about smaller NPR member stations.
“As far as some of my peers in other cities, imagine if you’re in a rural town. It’s going to be really hard to draw on the community for 50% of your funding,” she said. “We didn’t do this to get rich, as you can imagine. We’re here to serve the public good.”
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