Public broadcasting cuts would hurt rural areas FEDERAL BUDGET

Alan Farley speaks into his microphone during his radio program at the KALW studios in San Francisco Calif, on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. Farley has worked at KALW for 35 years. Alan Farley speaks into his microphone during his radio program at the KALW studios in San Francisco Calif, on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. Farley has worked at KALW for 35 years. Photo: Alex Washburn, The Chronicle Photo: Alex Washburn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Public broadcasting cuts would hurt rural areas 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

House Republicans are in for a surprise if they intend to dish some payback to liberal parts of the nation by eliminating federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which conservative politicians have long claimed is a liberal mouthpiece.

Small television and radio stations serving rural, politically red areas in California and other states would likely feel the biggest impact of such a move because 70 percent of public broadcasting funds are channeled to local stations.

Well-endowed public broadcasting outlets in more liberal metropolitan areas - such as KQED in San Francisco - probably would be able to survive their share of a $430 million cut that is part of a GOP-sponsored bill trimming $61 billion in spending that passed the House on Saturday.

Only 7.8 percent of KQED's budget comes from the federal government, and the station has enough corporate and foundation donors - not to mention 200,000 members - to be able to absorb the blow better than most. Sixty percent of the station's revenue comes from individuals.

That's not the case at KIXE-TV in Redding, where 45 percent of the station's $1.7 million budget comes from federal taxpayers. The station is located in Shasta County, one of the few California counties that supported Republican Sen. John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Conservative's backers

Voters there have backed conservative Rep. Wally Herger, R-Marysville (Yuba County), for 13 terms in the House. On Saturday, he voted in favor of the GOP's spending plan.

If the cut isn't restored by the Democratic-controlled Senate, KIXE officials say the station could be devastated. There aren't big corporate donors or major foundations in the region to make up the difference, as there are in many large cities. And with Redding's unemployment rate at 16 percent, there aren't many people with extra money to donate to the station.

"The victim from this cut will be all of the red-state rural stations," said Phil Smith, general manager of KIXE. "I told Congressman Herger, 'You're going to be wiping out all of your friends with this.' "

KEET-TV in Eureka receives 46 percent of its budget from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. If the cuts hold, "that would close our doors," said Ron Schoenherr, the station's executive director. "Even a 25 percent cut would be devastating" to the only public TV broadcaster covering the northernmost 200 miles of California's coast.

"The national debt is a concern to everyone - including me," Schoenherr said. "We're willing to take our share of cuts like everyone else. But this is extreme."

Big slice of budget

To many public broadcasters on American Indian reservations, or broadcasting in Spanish to farmworkers, their federal subsidy is often at least half of their budget, said Ginny Berson, a vice president of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in Oakland, which represents 200 stations.

"There is something to be said about preserving public broadcasting that doesn't toe a political line and provides independent coverage," Berson said.

In many rural and exurban communities, public broadcasters are one of the dwindling number of journalistic entities bird-dogging local issues, she said.

Station executives at KRCB, which operates a public TV and radio outlet in Rohnert Park, worry that its local election coverage would be scaled back should the federal cuts be approved. Federal funds comprise 25 percent of the station's budget.

TV program director Stan Marvin acknowledged that many people living in KRCB's geographic reach can receive KQED programming or see Charlie Rose's show, for example, online at charlierose.com.

Avoiding huge cuts

The federal cuts, he said, "would change the very nature of how we serve the community."

At San Francisco radio station KALW, a National Public Radio affiliate, the loss of federal funding would cut its shrinking budget by 9 percent, station manager Matt Martin said.

Last month, the San Francisco school district, which owns the FM station, agreed to extend a line of credit of up to $200,000 to help the listener-sponsored broadcaster stay on the air.

Eliminating federal support for public broadcasting has been on the Republican wish list for decades. But thanks to liberals in Congress - and public support for shows ranging from "Sesame Street" to Ken Burns' documentaries - large-scale cuts have been avoided.

Three liberal organizations, including CREDO Action, a national political action network in San Francisco, gathered 1 million online signatures in four days last week asking Congress to "protect" public broadcasting.

Lobbying campaign

In addition, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has started an online lobbying campaign at 170millionamericans.org - which refers to the number of Americans who consume some form of public media.

Public broadcasting supporters frequently point to a 2009 poll by Roper that found 40 percent of respondents trusted the news and public affairs programming on the Public Broadcasting Service "a great deal."

The second-highest-rated outlet, the poll found, was Fox News, which 29 percent of respondents trusted a great deal; 25 percent felt the same way about National Public Radio.

While public broadcasting executives dispute being characterized as having a liberal perspective, a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research group in September found that 40 percent of National Public Radio listeners identified themselves as Democrats, 41 percent as independents and 14 percent as Republicans.