Wyoming Public Media birthday party turns into funding rally
Mike Koshmrl / WyoFile
Wyoming Public Radio listener Richard Garrett briefs fellow supporters on the status of nearly $1.7 million of state funding that could be cut.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Public Media supporter Richard Garrett cut right to the good news.
Addressing fellow listeners who gathered on the birthday of an organization that dates back to the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, he applauded a budget amendment working its way through the Wyoming Senate. The amendment would restore roughly $1.7 million in state funding cut by lawmakers who drafted the budget ahead of the legislative session. The lawmakers are aligned with the Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-line Republicans.
Garrett hailed Sen. Ogden Driskill as a “hero” for proposing to restore Wyoming Public Media’s funding.
“We’ve got about eight or nine more steps to go,” Garrett told 30 or so listeners who were being blasted by wind across the street from the Wyoming Capitol building. “It’s a very treacherous journey to make sure that this funding stays in place.”
As WyoFile was finalizing this story, the funding was still in flux.
Casper Republican Rep. Elissa Campbell, who sports a 20-year-old Wyoming Public Radio sticker on the back of her truck, also spoke at the rally. (The sticker predates the outlet’s name shift to Wyoming Public Media to reflect its digital offerings.)
“I am proud to be an advocate, everywhere I drive,” Campbell said. “I know how important it is — it’s access to information.”
Later that day, she sought to bring her own amendment to restore the funding in the Wyoming House of Representatives version of the budget bill.
That one didn’t stick. After working well into the overnight hours, the House’s budget still lacked some $40 million in University of Wyoming funding, which includes the restored funding for Laramie-based Wyoming Public Media. (The University of Wyoming holds WPM’s license, though the station is editorially independent.)
But Driskill’s amendment went through, according to Wyoming Public Media General Manager Christina Kuzmych, restoring the nearly $1.7 million. The funding supports eight staff members, from news to engineering, at an organization that operates a network of FM radio stations all around Wyoming.
Whether it will remain is up to the Wyoming Legislature. Members of the House could still add the funding back in during the third reading of the budget bill, which starts Friday. If they don’t, the chambers will have to reconcile their differences.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy. This article has been republished with permission.
