Federal funding for public broadcasting is on the chopping block following the Recession Package of 2025’s approval by Congress this week, paving a new path of uncertainty for local public broadcasting in western Massachusetts and nationwide.

The package received Senate approval early Thursday morning, passing with a 51-48 vote. The House of Representatives then voted to finalize the legislation in the early hours of Friday morning with a 216-213 vote.

As reported by the New York Times, the package cuts $1.1 billion to the private, nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The two organizations have networks of 1,500 member stations across the United States.

For some of these member stations, the Times reported, federal funding makes up more than 50% of their budget, meaning some stations could reduce programming or shutter altogether.

As reported by NPR, federal funding to the CPB was established through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, and Congress previously allocated $535 million to the CPB for this fiscal year. That money is then provided to NPR and PBS. NPR typically receives about 1% of its funding from the federal government, and federal funding makes up 15% of the PBS budget through Community Service Grants.

The White House and some lawmakers have levied accusations of political bias against public broadcasting, with executive orders directing Congress to limit funding to the CPB stating the corporation is “outdated and unnecessary,” and is “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”

NPR and PBS executives have pushed back against this portrayal of their programming, and executives have stressed the value of public media for accessible educational content, localized news and emergency broadcasting.

In western Massachusetts, Springfield-based New England Public Media, an NPR and PBS member organization, serves Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties and beyond, providing local news and programming.

NEPM President Matt Abramovitz said Friday that federal funding through the Community Service Grant via the CPB is more than 10% of NEPM’s budget. Starting in the next government fiscal year, NEPM was expecting $875,000 from this grant.

“Now we’re in a world in which, come Oct. 1, that money will be $0 instead of $875,000,” he said.

Exact impacts at NEPM are hard to pinpoint now, Abramovitz said, but the pressure from this loss of funding will be felt at all public media stations. To brace for this, he said NEPM leaders will be looking at “efficiencies and savings everywhere we can.” He stressed that community support through donations will be crucial.

“We are turning to our local community to support it, because we fundamentally believe that the debates over political bias and federal spending are questions that are great Washington questions, but the impact of this move is felt in local stations like ours,” he said. “So, we are relying on our local community to step up and support us in this moment of turbulence.”

Public broadcasting on radio and television has provided free programming that includes local shows such as “The Fabulous 413,” “The Rundown,” “Jazz A La Mode” and “As Schools Match Wits,” broadcast alongside national programming from NPR like “All Things Considered,” or PBS shows like “Arthur” for children or “PBS News Hour.”

While entertainment and education are large portions of what public broadcasting provides, emergency broadcasting is another element that Abramovitz said is a key function of NEPM, as well as other public broadcasting. This significant role becomes apparent during disaster situations.

“When Hurricane Helene went through Asheville, North Carolina, the only thing on was that public station that was offering information around the clock to the community,” Abramovitz said. “Being on the ground here, having a staff here, having the infrastructure that’s been built out over the last 50 years, that gives us a real advantage in keeping our neighbors informed when they need it the most.”

While the funding cuts create instability, Abramovitz said the possibility was known over the last few months, and NEPM has been taking a proactive approach to advocating for the preservation of its federal funding.

The Protect My Public Media campaign has allowed visitors to contact their congressional representatives directly regarding the public media cuts. More than 621,000 new advocates joined the Protect My Public Media Grassroots Network since April 24, and 3 million calls and emails to congressional representatives were made — support that Abramovitz said is “reaffirming.”

Former WGBY General Manager and former Maine Public Vice President of Marketing and Development Russell Peotter, who worked in public broadcasting for four decades, said he recalls 12 attempts to defund public broadcasting, but the difference today is that the effort was successful.

From his perspective, the loss of federal funding will likely not close public media entities in the Northeast, where such funds are a smaller part of the total budget, such as with NEPM. For others, however, where 60% to 70% of funding comes from the federal level, closures are a real risk, especially for PBS stations that get a higher portion of federal funding from the CPB.

“These smaller stations, or these stations that rely on CPB funding, either go dark or don’t have the funding or can’t afford to pay the PBS fees anymore, then the whole pool of funding for programming across the country shrinks and shrinks dramatically,” Peotter explained.

This has an impact on childhood education as well, Peotter said, as PBS has a prime-time schedule of children’s programming that is scripted and created for childhood development.

“That is part of the service that is going to suffer, and it already started to suffer because the Department of Education is being dismantled,” he said, referring to a Ready to Learn grant that was terminated in May. “The first thing they did was pull funding from a bunch of programs.”

While the full scope of the impacts will be better understood later, there is still optimism in the value of public broadcasting that communities could step in to support, as Peotter, Abramovitz and NEPM board of directors Chair Crist Myers reflect.

“Given the role that New England Public Media plays representing our community [and] bringing together people for civil discourse or community events that celebrate the unique attributes of the people of western Massachusetts, we’re hopeful and optimistic that we’ll be able to rise to the occasion,” Myers said.

As for the possibility of state assistance filling the revenue gap lost by federal cuts, Myers said he’d see this as an “investment” given the education, news and emergency information that public broadcasters provide.

“There’s going to be some challenges, but more importantly, there’s going to be some opportunities,” Myers said about the future of NEPM and public broadcasting. “Every dark cloud has a silver lining, and Matt [Abramovitz] and myself, the rest of the board and the staff at New England Public Media are laser-focused on following that silver lining.”

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.