Terry O'Reilly, the president and CEO of Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation, responded to reports that the Trump administration plans to cut funding to NPR and PBS:
"The proposed end to federal funding for public media will be felt in communities across America: both large and small, including those right here in Western Pennsylvania.
These cuts will diminish the availability of trustworthy local news coverage and will critically impact our local civic, cultural, and artistic lives.
We are proud of the exceptional work that the people of WESA and WYEP do every day in service to the citizens of Western Pennsylvania … and we are proud of the bipartisan support we have enjoyed in those communities — and in the halls of Congress — for decades."
O'Reilly also noted:
- We were budgeted to receive $396,965 in “Community Service Grants” from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in this fiscal year (10/1/24-9/30/25). That’s about 4.8% of our total budgeted cash revenues for the fiscal year.
- CPB also provides funding that benefits ALL public radio stations indirectly — not in cash, but for things that they cover for the entire system … and which we would each be required to replace (at our cost) if CPB’s system-wide investments were to end. That includes [such items as] the satellite system that distributes NPR’s programming (and that from other producers), and the music license fees (paid to ASCAP and the other licensing entities), among other things.
- Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting has received all CSG funding expected for this fiscal year from the CPB.
