Why a senator’s side deal to protect tribal stations might not be enough

Tribal stations appear to have been spared from the loss of their CPB Community Service Grants as of Oct. 1. 

Before agreeing to support the rescission package that stripped $1.1 billion from CPB for the next two fiscal years, Sen. Mike Rounds, R–S.D., secured a commitment to provide $9.4 million for 35 Native American radio stations and one TV station through the Department of the Interior. 

But those funds, which were previously appropriated to DOI for other purposes, might not be enough, according to Native Public Media President and CEO Loris Taylor. 

With the loss of CPB’s systemwide support — such as subsidies for programming and interconnection services — the costs of operating a tribal station at its current capacity will go up, Taylor said. Tribal stations also benefit from the music licensing agreements that CPB manages on behalf of all stations. Even with the support individual stations are to receive from the DOI, some may still have to reduce capacity or close up entirely.

Native Public Media, a nonprofit organization that helps tribal stations maintain FCC and CPB compliance, had been receiving $330,000 annually from CPB to carry on that work. Those funds provided about a third of its budget and are not included in the deal. 

How will the DOI money work? 

Using $9.4 million in previously appropriated funding, the DOI will provide funding to 35 tribal radio stations in 11 states, according to a spokesperson from Rounds’ office. KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, the only station to operate a joint TV and radio station, will receive funding for both services.

The $9.4 million matches the total amount given to the 35 stations via CPB CSGs in fiscal year 2025. On average, each tribal radio station received about $245,000. KYUK received $812,000. Four of the 35 radio stations are in Rounds’ home state, South Dakota.

A DOI spokesperson told Current that the grants will be administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and will likely be awarded this fall. 

“The Department of the Interior and Indian Affairs are working to accelerate the implementation of a grant program to support tribal radio stations, utilizing existing program structures and staffing to ensure timely execution,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to Current. 

Since Rounds’ deal relies on previously appropriated funding, it’s not clear what will happen after the FY25 grants are dispersed. The DOI spokesperson couldn’t say whether the grant program would continue beyond the first year. 

Taylor told Current she’s been left out of the loop on how the grants will work. When stations came asking, she told them to reach out to Rounds’ office directly. 

“Is there someone at DOI if that’s going to be the fiscal agent?” she asked. “Are they prepared to undertake the regulatory part of overseeing these grants? Are they going to have additional grant requirements or is it going to be different? We don’t know this because the radio eligibility and provisions are specific to CPB’s community service grant.”

Taylor wrote to Rounds’ office shortly after the deal was announced but hadn’t received a response at Current’s deadline. 

“All I wanted was more details,” she said. “And when that’s not forthcoming, we’re in the dark as to how is this going to work?”

In an editorial for NPM’s website, Taylor described CPB’s role as “irreplaceable.” While NPM is grateful for Rounds’ attention to tribal radio, she wrote, Native stations need a clearer, permanent solution.

“I wrote another letter [to the House of Representatives] saying, ‘Listen, if you guys are talking about setting aside some funding for [tribal] stations, why not all 1,500 [radio and TV] stations across the country?,’” she said. “Because we seem to be caught in the crossfire of other things that may not directly relate to local stations that are hyperlocal in their service to their communities.”

What isn’t covered?

Though Taylor anticipates the elimination of NPM’s CPB grant, the organization’s commitment to tribal stations continues. The organization is currently surveying stations to assess which can continue broadcasting and for how long after CPB’s support ends. 

“Our dedication is going to remain whether we get CPB funds or not,” Taylor said. “We may not be able to be as swift or have the number of hours to dedicate, but we’re certainly going to try, because [the stations] are going to need our help. And even if they’re closing their door, there’s a lot of paperwork involved.”

More than $30,000 of NPM’s CPB funding supported Native Summit, an annual conference that provides training and networking opportunities. Taylor said NPM is unlikely to host the conference in 2026 without that funding. 

And without CPB’s negotiated music licensing contracts, Taylor estimates that each station would have to pay an additional $10,000 to independently secure the licenses they need for music programming. 

CPB has also paid $433,000 annually to support tribal stations’ subscriptions to the programming service Native Voice One, which is distributed through the Public Radio Satellite System. Without that funding, the stations will have to cover the full costs themselves, Taylor said. 

What’s next?

When Congress returns from recess the first week of September, it will have under a month to pass the dozen appropriations bills needed to fund the government in FY26, which starts Oct. 1. 

Public broadcasters hope to restore some public media funding in that legislation, and some members of Congress have said that they want to make that happen. But no details about how that could work have surfaced publicly. 

When the House of Representatives first took up the rescissions package, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., agreed to vote for it after Speaker Mike Johnson pledged to fund local public media in the annual appropriations bill. 

“My goal was to preserve decent funding for local public media, and not just in Nebraska,” Bacon said in a statement emailed to Current. “The main effort in the Recission bill was to stop the 2-year funding cycle for NPR and PBS and go to annual cycles. There was also a strong view of not sending money to the national PBS, but to continue supporting local public media.” 

CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said at a CPB board meeting Thursday that the corporation is doing “everything possible” to secure funding to support local media next year. Without this guarantee, it’s also looking at possible transition funding or having to shutter itself.

If Native stations have to close, Taylor said, tribes will lose access to essential information, including emergency alerts. 

“The loss of that alerting capability is by far what I’m hearing the most from the Native American communities, because they’re not going to be able to hear severe weather alerts on their radio station,” she said. “… They’re not gonna hear the new MEP — missing and endangered persons — alert when it goes live on September 8th, 2025, nationwide.”