Tom Abbott has worked at KFSK in Petersburg since 1990. He advocated against Congress rescinding money already allocated to nonprofit, noncommercial stations like his. But the rescissions package passed Congress July 18. Now, his station and others like it across Alaska are faced with tough choices.
On July 18, the Republican-led Congress agreed to roll back $1.1 billion already allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the following two fiscal years.
The funding serves as the basis for more than 1,500 public media stations around the country. In Alaska, there are 27 radio licensees.
Both Rep. Nick Begich and Sen. Dan Sullivan voted in favor of the rescission bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against the rescission package. Sullivan was awarded the 2020 Champion of Public Broadcasting Award from America's Public Television Stations. But the political calculus has changed in five years. President Trump campaigned against public media, charging that it has a left-leaning bias. He also threatened any member of Congress that voted against the rescissions, posting on social media: "Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement."
The CPB is a nonprofit established by Congress nearly 60 years ago to distribute federal funds to noncommercial TV and radio stations across the U.S. CPB funds help stations pay for programming made by NPR and PBS, but it also helps pay for local news and entertainment programming.
In Alaska, the coming cuts are expected to hit particularly hard. That's because Alaska is more dependent on this federal support for its rural stations.
"The biggest media desert is in Alaska," said Kristen Fowler-Garland, who chairs the Alaska Public Media Board of Directors. What that means is that there are not enough news outlets to adequately cover the state-a problem that is more severe in rural and remote areas than in urban areas. Wide swaths of the state lack any kind of news organization, from newspapers to digital outlets. Historically, public radio stations have filled the gap.
A good example is the case of Petersburg's KSFK. Petersburg is on an island in southeast Alaska and has a bit more than 3,000 residents. Petersburg, like a lot of southeast Alaska, also has a high percentage of retirees. Its population of people 65 or older is 25%, according to the Alaska Economic Trends March 2025 issue.
KSFK's general manager, Tom Abbott, made the rounds in national media outlets pleading the case for stations like his, that are highly reliant on federal funding. He appeared on a podcast called "The Daily," produced by the New York Times, but also appeared on CBS, MSNBC, the BBC, and other news outlets.
In the midst of his media appearances, all done while he continued to manage the station where he has worked since 1990, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit Sand Point, Alaska, causing tsunami warnings in coastal Alaska.
"Representative Nick Begich is talking about how things have changed since the Public Broadcasting Act, that there is bandwidth and streaming," Abbott said. "It's not here. We have dead zones all over the place."
Though access has improved in recent years in the state, many communities lack reliable connectivity.
Sage Smiley, the news director at KYUK in Bethel, said her station, which serves an area the size of Oregon and relies on CPB funds for 70% of revenue, could feel "catastrophic" impacts in a June story in High Country News.
Abbott said if he could amend the national coverage of KFSK's plight, it would be to change the focus from it being a quaint radio station, like something out of "Northern Exposure." The real issue is that rural stations provide local news and emergency warnings and coverage.
In fact, Alaska is the most dependent state in the West for federal support for public media stations. The economic fallout is likely to be less severe for urban stations like KSKA, the NPR affiliate in Anchorage or KAKM, the PBS affiliate. Both are part of Alaska Public Media. In general, urban stations have a deeper pool of individual donors that can help buffer the cuts. If an emergency happens in Anchorage, Alaska Public Media has emergency systems in place to inform people. But there are other options, including more reliable internet service and other broadcast stations. In rural areas, public radio stations have used public funds to air potentially lifesaving updates during emergencies and their aftermath.
In addition to the emergency broadcasting stations do, Abbott says a key for his audience, particularly older residents of Petersburg, is that the station provides companionship.
"We're on throughout the day. We promote all the events in town," Abbott said. Often, older residents live alone or just with their spouse, so they have the radio on all day. Elders who live in Petersburg want to stay current, and they listen to KFSK to find out. "They want to know what's going on," he said. "They do want to get out and be active. A lot of those things don't get put in the newspaper. There isn't an ad for someone's garage sale. We put that on the radio as a public service announcement. We're a friendly voice. It's not gaudy."
The Pew Research Center did a survey last March, asking about proposed federal cuts to PBS and NPR. About a quarter of U.S. adults (24%) said Congress should remove federal funding from NPR and PBS. A larger share (43%) say NPR and PBS should continue to receive funding from the federal government, while 33% say they are not sure.
Disclosure: Paola Banchero, Kristen Fowler-Garland and Tom Abbott are on the board of Alaska Public Media.
