Why getting rid of NPR or PBS will affect more than the news or ‘Sesame Street’

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As part of Illinois Public Media’s special series Four More Years: The View from Illinois, The 21st Show discusses how defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could hurt local NPR and PBS member stations and programming and America’s emergency communications system as well as why financial resources are so few for Illinois’ public broadcast stations.

The About CPB page has a video and some basic information: https://cpb.org/aboutcpb

The CPB Financial Information section on the website has detailed information on the federal appropriation, budget justifications, operating budget, business plan, and Funding by State: https://cpb.org/aboutcpb/financials

The rural page describes CPB support for rural stations, which has updated information on CPB funding for rural stations:  https://cpb.org/aboutpb/rural

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on six NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsIPM