NPR may receive little direct federal funding, but
a good deal of its budget comprises federal funds that flow to it indirectly by federal law. Here’s how it works: Under the terms of the 1967
Public Broadcasting Act, funds are allocated annually to a non-governmental agency, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, overseen by a board of presidential appointees. That corporation, in turn, can choose to support original programming produced by public television or public radio — but, by law, must direct much of its $445 million funding (scheduled to top
$500 million next fiscal year) to local public television and public radio stations across the country, via so-called “community service grants.”
Here’s where things get tricky. Local stations, if they want to broadcast “
All Things Considered,” “
Fresh Air” and other programming produced by NPR or competitors such as American Public Radio, must pay for it. Indeed, in its
consolidated financial statement for 2021, NPR reported $90 million in revenue from “contracts from customers,” a significant portion of its $279 million and much more than 1 percent. Such revenue was exceeded only by corporate sponsorships, which totaled $121 million. One can think of these funds as federal grants that have been sent from Washington — but returned to it.
What’s more, local stations are actually required by law to do so. The 1967 act
specifies that, of funds they received from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, “23 percent of such amounts shall be available for distribution among the licensees and permittees of public radio stations solely to be used for acquiring or producing programming that is to be distributed nationally and is designed to serve the needs of a national audience.”
In other words, if a local public radio station decided it no longer wanted to carry “
Morning Edition,” it would not have the discretion to use some portion of its federal grant to support, for example, local newsgathering.
