From growing up watching “Sesame Street” to working for WBGU-PBS, senior Eric Browning said he couldn’t imagine life without public broadcasting.
The House of Representatives voted to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. This means the federal media funding will be cut all over the country.
The bill must now pass through the Senate, which just received it after the House did a second reading March 1.
“For it to be cut, I think that’s disgusting,” Browning said.
Browning, the assistant director for Northwest Ohio Journal, has worked for WBGU-PBS in Bowling Green for four years, where he said he has received a more meaningful education than being in the classroom.
WBGU-PBS would be affected if the bill passes, causing 25 percent of its funding to be cut that could affect students, employees and viewers, said Tina Simon, assistant manager for development and finance for WBGU-TV.
The station is licensed to the University. Its funding is split into four parts — federal, state, University and public support, such as donations, Simon said.
She said the station relies on the federal and state funding for their operating budget, as the University only handles funding for employees.
“These are the kinds of things we have to worry about,” said Tony Short, assistant manager of educational services for WBGU-TV.
Short said the Senate might not vote to eliminate the funding since the Democrats control it. Republicans control the House and have been less likely to support public media.
“At this time we feel we have stronger support in the Senate,” Short said.
Short said the CPB had a funding increase of 6 percent on the president’s budget, making Short hopeful that the funding will not be eliminated.
“It’s a difficult time to know until we see what happens in the Senate,” he said.
The effects on the station could vary, but Short and Simon agreed there could be some unwanted changes, such as local content getting cut.
“Because we’re not commercial we’ve always maintained numbers in different areas,” Short said. “We’re for everybody.”
The station offers a variety of content that can appeal to many different tastes because the station does not rely on numbers of viewers for profit like commercial broadcasting does. As Simon said, limitations set by the Federal Communications Commission restrict PBS from airing commercials. She said the lack of funding could change the core of PBS making it more similar to commercial broadcasting.
If the funding is cut, she said the FCC should do something to loosen the restrictions so public broadcasting can have an alternative way to gain funding, although she would not like PBS to be altered.
“The dollars need to come from some place to maintain programming,” Short said.
With PBS serving 98 percent of Americans, regardless of whether they have cable television, it offers diverse programming to the entire country, Short said.
He said supporters of public broadcasting make the argument that PBS costs $1.35 for each taxpayer per year, which is a pretty notable number.
“We’re hoping to be able to make that case to our viewers so they can write their congressmen,” Short said. “I think we have public support.”
Despite the argument that this public support could make up for the lack of federal funding, Short said it depends more on the region of the station.
The station covers a rural area with counties south and west of Bowling Green, surrounding Lima, Ohio.
“It isn’t realistic to assume you’ll get a lot of dollars out of a rural area,” Short said.
He said WBGU-PBS is not the only station in the area that would be affected by the elimination of funds. There are eight other public broadcast stations in Ohio. WBGU-PBS, for example, is working with WGTE in Toledo to do collaborative productions.
“We’re not working in a vacuum. We are looking at collaborations,” Short said. “We’re all in the same boat. It’s a grassroots effort.”
Supporters can go to www.170millionamericans.org where a petition has been started to prevent the elimination of funding. The site was started on the principle that every month more than 170 million Americans use public media and that every month over half of all Americans use public media.
“I think everyone should sign it,” Browning said. “Public broadcasting is a big part of American culture.”