NPR and PBS Funding Killed As President Pulls CPB Plug (ep.381)

An executive order, issued by the President, directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and all executive departments and agencies to cease federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

The stated reasons for this action are that government funding for news media is considered outdated, unnecessary given the diverse modern media landscape, and harmful to the appearance of journalistic independence. The order asserts that while taxpayers have the right to expect fair, accurate, unbiased coverage from public broadcasting, NPR and PBS fail to provide this.

Specifically, the order instructs the CPB Board to stop all direct and indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including cancelling existing funds where legally possible, denying future funds, and revising grant criteria by June 30, 2025, to prohibit funding NPR/PBS. Other agencies are also directed to identify and terminate their funding to the maximum extent allowed by law, and to review existing agreements for compliance. Additionally, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is instructed to check NPR and PBS for compliance with non-discrimination in employment laws.

The order includes a severability clause, stating that if any part is deemed invalid, the rest remains in effect.

Let’s stop pretending: terrestrial and satellite radio aren’t “evolving”—they’re fossilizing in real time. The only thing keeping them alive is regulatory oxygen and the collective denial of an industry terrified to admit it’s no longer leading the conversation.

Start with terrestrial radio. The FCC and advocacy groups are suddenly screaming about “localism” again, as if bringing back high school football recaps and farm reports will undo decades of corporate consolidation and listener attrition. In reality, most local stations are owned by the same handful of media conglomerates, with programming piped in from centralized servers hundreds of miles away. The “local” DJ? Likely recorded yesterday from a studio in another time zone.

Commissioner Brendan Carr and others at the FCC claim they want to strengthen community broadcasting—but they’re also greenlighting foreign ownership of U.S. media companies. Which is it? Protect local voices, or sell them off to the highest bidder? Reforming ownership rules under the banner of “saving local radio” is lipstick on a decades-old deregulation disaster.

Meanwhile, satellite radio’s great hope is... fewer people unsubscribed than last quarter. That’s the bar now. SiriusXM is trying to sound optimistic while still losing subscribers and relevance in a world where most drivers already have Bluetooth and Spotify. Their pivot? Slap a slick new interface on an aging delivery system and hope bundling their app with your phone plan will trick you into listening.

Yes, SiriusXM still has some loyalists, but let’s not confuse loyalty with growth. Their strategy—double down on celebrity deals and niche channels—is just an expensive way to delay the inevitable. And even Spotify, which just bragged about paying over $100 million to podcasters, is quietly exiting the exclusivity game and restructuring to survive. If Spotify is struggling to keep audio audiences engaged, what hope does satellite radio have selling curated channels behind a paywall?

All this is happening while streaming television collapses into a bloated rerun of cable TV. The MarketWatch article nails it: what started as freedom from bundles has become bundles upon bundles—Netflix with ads, Hulu merging into Disney+, Paramount folding into who-knows-what. Add in password crackdowns and rising prices, and it’s clear: streaming didn’t kill cable, it just put it in a hoodie and gave it a new UX.

Even late-night television, once a cornerstone of cultural promotion, is quietly phasing out musical guests—because what’s the point? Artists get more traction