Advocate for Iowa Public Radio

Updated April 17, 2025

The White House plans to ask Congress to rescind funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) later this month. This move would undercut NPR and PBS stations across the country, including Iowa Public Radio. NPR’s David Folkenflik reported the Trump administration has drafted a memo to Congress outlining the plans.

The proposal, if passed, would claw back $1.1 billion from the CPB — or two year’s worth of funding. Overall, the CPB's annual funding is less than 0.01% of the federal budget.

What does this mean for IPR?

CPB dollars make up approximately 10% of IPR’s annual budget, and if those dollars are rescinded, that’s an $800,000 annual loss to the operating budget.

An $800,000 annual loss to IPR’s funding can’t be replaced overnight. While we have some financial reserves to help us, it will take time to permanently replace those funds. We have practiced conservative fiscal management for many years, but we are taking steps to protect our core operations so that we can maintain the highest level of service to you.

The majority of our annual budget, 86% specifically, comes directly from our community; including businesses and individuals like you. We are preparing to see that number grow with this potential loss of funding. Help us get a start to replace this funding by showing your support now.

What’s next?

The White House could send this plan to Congress as early as Monday, April 28, when lawmakers return from recess. This would start a 45-day countdown for Congress to review and vote on the proposal. During this time, the Administration can temporarily withhold any funding included in the plan. If Congress doesn’t approve the plan – or can’t get enough votes to pass it – the funding must be released. The Senate can pass it with a simple majority of just 50 votes, and Congress has the option to change what’s included.

This action would have a devastating impact on public media stations across the country and erode the services that you and so many others rely on. These services, including news, music and culture, educational programs, and the emergency alert system, are offered to all Iowans, without paywalls, connecting our communities across the state.

This is a somber moment, and we stand today with all our colleagues in public media, who deliver excellence every day for listeners and viewers in communities across the nation.

We are asking for your support now more than ever.

Public media serves everybody.

Public media serves everybody. Help spread the word that public media is an important investment in your local community. We’ve outlined a few of the many reasons we must invest in a strong and accessible public media system below.

Understand how your public media is funded.

The public broadcasting funding model is not the same as it once was when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was established. Public media is largely funded locally by supporters like you. Federal support is just a small — yet critical — piece of the funding puzzle.

CPB funds provide foundational support for public media stations.

Since 2021, IPR has received no financial support from the state of Iowa or Iowa’s Regent universities. In the last fiscal year, 86% of our budget came from the community — which includes individuals like you.

But CPB dollars are an important foundation for our overall funding, making up 10% of our annual budget. Every dollar of CPB support allows stations like Iowa Public Radio to leverage that investment into over $8 of privately-raised funds. That support helps us realize our mission of connecting Iowans with the news, music, information and ideas that shape their world every day.

Just 40¢ per person goes to support public radio each year.

Federal funding for public broadcasting is distributed to the CPB and currently totals $535 million annually. That’s approximately $1.60 per citizen — about .008% of the federal budget — and a fraction of the amount invested by other countries. One-fourth of that amount supports public radio specifically.

De-funding CPB hurts local stations — and local communities.

CPB provides very little funding to NPR or any other national program producer. The vast majority of its funds go to more than 1,400 local public television and radio stations like Iowa Public Radio.

CPB administers grants, evaluates station effectiveness and ensures accountability to Congress and the President. CPB also supports local stations in other ways — negotiating and paying for music rights for music stations and supporting the public radio and television interconnection systems.

Public radio provides critical public services.

Iowa Public Radio and many of our peers throughout the United States offer our infrastructure for additional public service use. Public radio stations are often the sole source of critical information in emergencies and natural disasters.

IPR is an essential part of the emergency alerting system in Iowa. Our network serves as a statewide distribution system for emergency alerts, which all radio stations can monitor. We also carry the Iowa Radio Reading Information Service (IRIS), the state's reading service for print-disabled listeners.

Public radio stations connect communities.

Public radio stations provide local news coverage at a time when the number of local news outlets is shrinking. Iowa lost 700 journalists between 2008 and 2020. The U.S. as a whole has lost one-third of its newspapers since 2005. In this environment, public radio plays a key role in ensuring local news coverage, increasing civic engagement and creating more vibrant communities. Research shows that people who consume local news are more civically engaged in their community.

In addition to local journalism, public media offers a number of opportunities for community engagement and cultural enrichment. At Iowa Public Radio, we:

• Convene conversations with experts, newsmakers and policymakers in stories and talk shows to highlight Iowa life — from the issues Iowans face every day to shared passions like gardening.
• Extend the reach of Iowa's symphonies, operas and other cultural institutions from the major metros to all corners of the state.
• Introduce Iowans to emerging artists making noise in their home state and local musicians nobody else plays.

Public media matters in rural states like Iowa.

Approximately 40% of federally-funded public media stations are rural. These stations are often the only source of local media in these areas.

Rural stations face unique challenges and higher costs than urban stations because they often operate multiple transmitters and translators to reach remote, sparsely populated areas. A reduction or elimination of funding would have the most negative impact on stations serving rural communities, like IPR. Our public radio network reaches all 99 counties. Of those, nearly two-thirds are rural.

Stay connected. Take action.

Listeners, viewers and supporters across the nation are organizing to protect the public broadcasting they rely on each day. Protect My Public Media has additional tools, information and ways to get involved. Learn more or join the action network for all the latest on how you can protect Iowa Public Radio and local stations everywhere.

Now is the time to make your voice heard. You can help protect funding for Iowa Public Radio and all public media stations by contacting your members of Congress and showing your support with a donation today.

Please continue to use this page as a source for updates and information.