Congress is considering cuts to federal funding that could cripple some public media.

The Trump Administration is currently threatening millions of dollars in budget cuts to National Public Radio and PBS affiliates, including ones here in North Carolina. 

David Crabtree is a legend of North Carolina media, who sees firsthand how PBS North Carolina will weather this next storm as the chief executive officer. 

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which spends a lot of money annually with NPR and with PBS, could be losing its funding. If that happens, it’s a great impact on us,” Crabtree said.  

Crabtree is a creature of habit. He strolls to the Rootle Suite, a team of employees creatively tackling children’s programming, ideas, themes and community engagements, when he feels stressed.

“How is everyone this morning? Am I interrupting a very important meeting?” he asked as he entered the room. 

No one feeds off the positive energy of public children’s programming like Crabtree.

“Here you will find all kinds of children’s things,” Crabtree said. 

The Rootle team comes up with ways to engage and reach children in their communities. The head man at PBS NC knows that well. 

“We are very much engaged in the community and that means we are very much paying close attention to what is going on in Washington right now,” he said.

Trump proposed massive cuts to the CPB, the steward of the congressional investment in public media, to the tune of $1.1 billion.

“It is a responsibility, and our responsibility is to shepherd those funds as best we can and to make sure we are making a positive impact as best we can with as many people as we can,” he said.

Crabtree is no rookie to the media landscape. The former anchor and reporter said they first looked at what cuts they could make on their end in January, including cutting 10% of non-personnel expenditures.

The CEO said that the pro-active move saved roughly $1 million.

“We realized, not that we were spending money needlessly, but possibly we could do it more effectively and more efficiently without affecting the quality of the programming one bit. That was the commitment that I made that said that will not change,” Crabtree said.

To add insult to injury, they received a notice in the spring saying their Ready to Learn initiative funding from the Department of Education had abruptly ended. 

A statement from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting on the decision to cut Department of Education funding for a new initiative.

“We were about halfway into the spending for the year when we received word on a Sunday, to proceed at your own peril,” Crabtree said.

Where that hit them the hardest is their children’s education and community engagement work. 

Crabtree says the state hub for public media operates on a $30 million budget. A PBS North Carolina 2024 Impact Report showed about 35% of that budget is funded by the General Assembly, 13% comes from the CPB and the rest is from a mix of private support from various entities.

 “It has a big hungry monster to feed, every week, every month, and that begins with what happens in television,” Crabtree said.

It’s also worth noting that PBS was critical to public safety and emergency management. Crabtree called the function irreplaceable during Helene. He said when talks to members of the state’s Congressional delegation, he tries to gently remind them of that. 

“When we went through Hurricane Helene, that was incredibly important. Cell service was down, but those sheriff’s officers were able to talk with each other,” Crabtree said. “We have a network that keeps the Highway Patrol connected.”

With uncertainty becoming a common theme, Crabtree, 75, said he’s not losing hope yet.

“Oh no, oh no. Oh, no, you can’t give up,” he said. 

Crabtree said as it currently stands, there is a potential to lose about five million dollars a year should Congress act on the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts.