WHITESBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — Rural radio stations across America could see some of the largest impacts from Congress' cuts to funding for public media, threatening vital services in communities that rely on them for both news and entertainment.
This year marks four decades of broadcasts for WMMT 88.7 out of Whitesburg in Letcher County. But this milestone year also brings new challenges after Congress passed a rescission package last week. If signed into law, it would take back more than $1 billion already budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"The funding that we've gotten for over 30 years from CPB, I cannot express how important that it is and how much it has helped us to continue to uplift those underserved and underrepresented voices in our community," said Tiffany Sturdivant, the executive director of Appalshop.
About one-third of WMMT's budget comes from CPB funding, according to Sturdivant. That money doesn't just fund arts and entertainment. Many Eastern Kentuckians rely on rural radio stations for public safety information and emergency weather forecasts, which Sturdivant witnessed during the flooding of 2022.
"The radio was how a lot of people got the information they needed," Sturdivant said.
Those vital services are now caught in the crosshairs of national politics. Sturdivant estimated the station has about a year to prepare for potential budget cuts.
When asked what happens next for WMMT, Sturdivant was resolute: "Where do we go? We continue to show up," she told LEX 18. "We continue to reach out to our legislators. We continue to do programming. Right now, I'm in the studio and we've got two community DJs on the air doing their thing. We continue to keep going. We press forward."
She said that's just what people do in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
"Closing our doors is not an option. We will do what we need to do to keep us on air and to keep our community informed," Sturdivant said.
WMMT is 24 hours a day and can be heard across Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, and Southern West Virginia, as well as portions of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
WMKY in Morehead is another radio station that relies on CPB funding for about one-third of its budget. We reached out to general manager Paul Hitchcock, and he referred us to an op-ed he wrote for the Herald-Leader in May.
He wrote, in part, "While NPR and PBS are often in the spotlight, it's local stations in rural communities that rely on CPB support to provide local news, music, and emergency information."