Note: a version of this piece originally appeared in the Traverse City Record-Eagle as part of the "Tuning In" series.
What would you do if you lost 15% of your household income overnight? That’s the uncomfortable position that Interlochen Public Radio is facing right now because we could lose our federal funding at any moment.
On May 1, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding PBS and NPR.
The White House is also expected to send a memo to Congress outlining its intent to end nearly all federal funding for public media effective immediately. Congress has 45 days to respond, either approving this rescission or restoring the federal funds.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private corporation funded by a Congressional appropriation. In 2025, this appropriation was less than 1/100th of the total federal budget.
If Congress approves this rescission or if the executive order is enforced, Interlochen Public Radio will lose between $250,000 and $300,000 annually, likely effective immediately.
These annual grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcast make up about 15% of IPR’s annual operating revenue. Our remaining revenue comes from individual listener donations (about 65%) and underwriting/corporate sponsorship (about 20%).
We are now in a difficult position of having to decide what to do if we lose 15% of our operating revenue.
We could cut popular syndicated programs that cost tens of thousands of dollars per year to broadcast like Performance Today and With Heart and Voice. We could lay off staff members and cancel locally-hosted music programs like Music by Request.
We could sell off broadcast towers and stop sending an FM signal into certain regions. We could stop presenting free in-person classical music concerts in our region. We could stop producing programs and events for children and families.
I really, really don’t care for any of those options.
I would much rather be writing this column about our classical music happy hour concert series coming to the Little Fleet this summer, or about our new all-Bach program on weekdays at 5 o’clock called “The Well-Tempered Commute," or about “Intermezzo,” our new program for children and families.
But without these funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, we may not be able to continue programs and concerts like these in the future. This rescission could change a lot about what we do and provide to our region.
Federal funding is an especially important source of revenue for public radio stations in rural areas because it supports arts, culture, news and information in places where the private market is too small to provide all of the revenue. And yes, there are still parts of the country where it’s hard to get those things online.
If you think federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for Interlochen Public Radio is important and should be maintained, please call or email your local members of Congress. In Grand Traverse County, that’s Rep. Jack Bergman, Sen. Gary Peters and Sen. Elissa Slotkin. You can tell them why you think Classical IPR is important and ask them to maintain current CPB funding.
If you have questions or comments, please contact me at amanda.sewell@interlochen.org
