Rescissions mean public media can’t fund warning system grants

The Republican-led rescissions package signed into law late last month by President Donald Trump has claimed another victim: a grant program that helps public radio and TV stations upgrade their emergency alert systems to warn listeners and viewers of impending disasters.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private nonprofit that oversees federal investment in public media, announced this week it is defunding its Next Generation Warning System Grant Program for local public media stations as it prepares to close on Oct. 1 after the rescissions package removed federal funding for public media.

CPB was awarded $136 million in 2022 over three years to support the program, which allowed public media stations to compete for funds to help them replace and upgrade their alerts, warning and communications infrastructure.

The program prioritized public media stations in underserved and at-risk communities, especially rural and Tribal areas. It partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to administer it.

“CPB has been fully invested in the NGWS program and its mission to protect the American public,” Patricia Harrison, CPB’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “This is one more example of rescission consequences impacting local public media stations and the communities they serve — in this case, weakening the capacity of local public media stations to support the safety and preparedness of their communities.”

CPB said the program was oversubscribed from the beginning. From the first round of funding received in 2022, CPB awarded 44 grants totaling $21.6 million. A second round of applications drew more than $110 million in requests from 175 stations. CPB said the responsibility for disbursing funds should now shift to FEMA, otherwise the funds appropriated for Fiscal Years 2022, 2023 and 2024 will go unspent.

The impact of the grant program for local public broadcasters has been enormous. CPB said stations have spent the funds on a variety of efforts, including upgrading Emergency Alert Systems, purchasing transmission lines and antennae to allow emergency broadcasts to reach unserved audiences, upgrading equipment, adding new technology and making it more resilient.

Congressional opponents of the rescissions package said the closure of this grant program shows just how far-reaching its effects will be.

“After swearing up and down that emergency alert systems like this one wouldn’t be affected by their rescissions package, Republicans have now single-handedly put this critical safety program and resources for communities nationwide in peril,” U.S. Sen Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, told Route Fifty in an email. “The Next Generation Warning System helps save lives and keep people safe when disasters strike, and the alert systems it supports are now at grave risk after Republicans defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is only the beginning as Republicans’ cuts are forcing stations nationwide who deliver these alerts to either shut down altogether or suffer massive cuts and reductions in service.”

Others in public media bemoaned the grant program’s closure. Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, a nonprofit membership organization that advocates for public television channels, said in a statement it represents “yet another devastating result of the rescission of public media funding.”

“Despite the claims during the rescission debate that emergency alerting and public safety services would not be affected by eliminating all public media funding, we are now seeing local stations forced to reduce staff, services and in some cases their coverage area — which will reduce the reach and effectiveness of emergency alerts,” Riley continued.

“In addition, the ending of the Next Generation Warning System will make it even harder for the most at-risk stations, particularly those in rural areas, to replace aging infrastructure and support enhancements to alert and warning and other public safety communications systems to ensure resilience and the ability to meet the evolving nature of public safety challenges,” she said.

Riley noted that public television has played a critical role in emergency alert services, and worked hard to make those services quicker and more effective. Those efforts have included partnering with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to show how alert services can work in flood control and evacuation, rural school shooting scenarios, large crowd management, over-water emergency communications and other areas where broadband or cellular service are not fully functional.

Stations also have partnered with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to reduce the early earthquake warning standard from 30 seconds to less than 1 second, and helped build a statewide emergency communications network in Tennessee. Public media stations across Florida created an emergency network that delivers up-to-the minute weather and news reports during severe weather events in Florida and South Carolina, while stations have carried out similar work nationwide.

“All of these services that ensure Americans’ safety are now at risk with the closure of CPB, the end of CPB’s administration of the NGWS program and the loss of federal funding for local stations,” Riley said. “Today’s announcement by CPB compounds the losses that communities are facing as a result of the defunding of public media and threatens the very health and safety of millions of Americans across the country.”