Northern California’s public airwaves face a financial cliff after the U.S. Senate voted 51-48 early Thursday to roll back $1.1 billion already set aside for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The cut is part of President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions plan, which now awaits a final House vote and his signature by Friday.
About 70 percent of CPB’s federal appropriation goes straight to local stations, and rural outlets rely on it the most. Federal grants cover roughly 17 percent of the average rural station’s budget, compared with 9 percent for urban peers.
That lifeline supports the three signals serving Lassen and Modoc counties: Jefferson Public Radio’s network of translators, North State Public Radio’s Chico-based newsroom and Redding’s KIXE-TV, which calls CPB money “partial but critical” to reaching 10 northeast counties.
It also underwrites new gear for wildfire alerts. CPB administers FEMA’s Next Generation Warning System grants, helping stations broadcast evacuation orders when cell towers fail. Those grants would disappear with the larger cut.
Senators preserved $400 million for the global AIDS program PEPFAR but left the public-media rollback intact after defeating amendments from Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins.
If the House concurs, CPB funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027—money that kicks in Oct. 1, 2025—will vanish. Analysts warn scores of rural stations could go dark, taking with them local news, PBS Kids programs and the only dependable emergency broadcast system for many high-desert towns.
