A rescission package passed by the Trump Administration could lead to over $1.1 billion in funding being cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), an action that could take rural radio stations, such as WXPR stationed in Rhinelander, off the air.
Early this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the CPB to cut direct and federal funding for both National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcast Service (PBS), with Congress also being asked to rescind funds that were previously approved for public media to use in their budgets for the next two years. The funds amount to $1.1 billion.
In 2025 alone, nearly 25% — or $171,000 — of WXPR’s annual budget came from grants they received from the CPB, according to WXPR CEO and General Manager Jessie Dick.
“If federal funding is clawed back, the consequences would be devastating for WXPR,” said Dick. “This federal support keeps our local newsroom running, covers the cost of music rights for the programs our listeners love and ensures we can broadcast emergency alerts when they matter most.”
A rescission request is a rarely used process to cancel previously allocated federal funding. Together, the House and Senate have 45 days to review and vote on the request. Through this process, the administration can temporarily withhold any funding included in the plan. If both the House and Senate approve the request with a simple majority, the proposal becomes law. If Congress doesn’t approve the plan — or can’t get enough votes to pass it — the funding must be released.
With this funding being cut, hundreds of radio stations across the nation would have to cut their programming, or perhaps even be taken off the air entirely. Dick says that these cuts would be most felt in rural areas such as the North Woods.
“Public media serves every American in every part of this country, for less than 0.01% of total federal spending,” she said. “These cuts would be felt most in rural areas, where federal funding is essential and local news can be hard to find — often, public radio is the only source of local news.”
Dick added that cuts such as these will create immediate budget shortfalls that would devastate local newsrooms, cancel music programs, dismantle the emergency alerting system and threaten the survival of many stations.
Because of this potential loss of funds, Dick has posted a call to action for listeners to contact members of Congress to remove public media funding from the recision package, or voting ‘no’ to the package entirely.
Local listeners can contact the following:
Senator Tammy Baldwin - 202-224-5653 (DC); 715-832-8424 (Eau Claire); 141 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Senator Ron Johnson - 202-224-5323 (DC); 920-230-7250 (Oshkosh)l 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Rep. Tom Tiffany - 202-225-3365 (DC); 715-298-9344 (Wausau); 451 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Dick said that there are also other ways people can continue their support for WXPR, which include advocating for public broadcasting by staying informed and visiting protectmypublicmedia.org; donating to WXPR, as community contributions make up for over half of the station’s funding; spreading the word, following WXPR on social media, subscribing to newsletters and encouraging friends and family to support public media.
More about WXPR, and how to support, can be found by visiting wxpr.org.
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