Loss of Federal Funding to Basin PBS equals almost 1 million dollars per year

Imagine waking up one morning and finding that PBS is simply gone.
No more trusted kids shows. No more NOVA or Ken Burns. No more place to turn when you want something thoughtful and real.

That is the future we are facing.

Over the summer, Congress voted to eliminate funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For Basin PBS, that funding was a lifeline. The grant we received through CPB made up 48% of our entire budget, close to one million dollars. Almost half of what it takes to keep this station on the air for you and your neighbors has disappeared.

PBS programming has always been free for everyone. Teachers use our lessons in their classrooms. Families rely on PBS KIDS so their children have a safe and positive place to watch and play. Viewers turn to programs like NOVA, Masterpiece, and Ken Burns documentaries, including the new film on the American Revolution, to learn about the world and our place in it. None of that has ever required a subscription fee or a credit card. You simply turn us on.

We serve about half a million people across 19 counties. Many of those households cannot afford streaming services or cable. For them, Basin PBS is not just another channel. It is the only source of high-quality educational media they have.

This budget cut is devastating. Without new support from viewers, our future is very simple. We will have to cut programs. Then we will have to cut more. If the gap is not filled, there will come a day when your PBS station no longer exists.

Since 1986, Basin PBS has been here for this community. Next year should be a celebration of our 40th year of service. Forty years of concerts and ballets that bring the arts into living rooms. Forty years of shows that carry you around the world from right here at home. Forty years of stories that remind us that West Texas is worth knowing and worth loving.

Children are at the heart of our work. We give away free books. We host educational events. We help parents and grandparents light up a child’s imagination with characters they trust. We partner with schools and nonprofits to lift up families who are often left out. We tell the stories of local people, preserving the history of our region so that our kids and grandkids will know where they come from.

We also tell the story of our democracy here at home. No one else in our region is doing what we do with town halls, debates, and coverage of important local issues. When there is a hard conversation that our community needs to have, Basin PBS opens the door and invites everyone in.

We are the kind of rural station national leaders talk about when they say defunding will hurt small communities the most. For us, it is not a talking point. It is real. Forty-eight percent of our budget is gone. Close to one million dollars. If you try to imagine all the shows you grew up with quietly disappearing from our air, you are beginning to understand what is at stake.

Please do not assume someone else will step in. Viewers like you are now the only reason Basin PBS will survive. Your gift is not just a donation to a station. It is a decision that West Texas children deserve free educational media, teachers deserve support, and seniors and families in small towns deserve access to the same quality programming as anyone in a big city. That our local stories and local civic life matter.

If Basin PBS has ever been there for you or someone you love, we are asking you from the bottom of our hearts.
Help us be here for the next forty years.