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Following House Republicans’ vote last week to eliminate funding for public media outlets around the country, local Kentucky media warns that they may not be able to provide lifesaving extreme weather alerts or inform the public about issues facing farmers and rural Kentuckians.
Republicans prioritized cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in the country by cutting over $800 billion from Medicaid and gutting funding for public media.
These Kentucky public media stations also provide critical infrastructure that allows emergency services to communicate when private towers go dark – losing these towers means losing lives.
Kentuckians are reading what these cuts will mean for them…
Lexington Herald Leader: KET, KY public radio say future in doubt as House votes to ax funding
Beth Musgrave
June 13, 2025
- Kentucky’s public radio and television networks say their future is in doubt after the U.S. House voted Thursday to cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides grants to public television and public radio.
- Executives with KET had previously said the loss of federal dollars would severely impact all of its statewide programming including “Kentucky Edition” and weekly series “Kentucky Tonight,” “Kentucky Life,” “Kentucky Health, ” “Comment on Kentucky” and “The Farmer & The Foodie.”
- The amount public radio stations receive from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting varies. Typically more rural stations— which in some areas are the only daily local news source in Kentucky —receive a larger portion of their budgets from the federal government.
- Appalshop’s WMMT 88.7 out of Letcher County receives roughly one-third of its funding from the federal government. The radio station offers local programming such as “Mountain Talk.” It also is critical in providing emergency weather and other alerts, a need in Eastern Kentucky which has been devastated by multiple floods in recent years.
- “Without federal funding, which accounts for a third of our budget, WMMT may no longer be able to deliver lifesaving alerts, essential programming, or the resources you rely on,” Appalshop officials said.
- Public television and radio not only issue alerts, they help emergency managers communicate.
- KET’s 15 transmission towers house multiple federal, state and local emergency management communication systems. When cell and other towers go dark due to electrical outages or storm damage, KET’s network allows emergency management to continue to communicate, according to KET’s website.
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