Wayne Reid, the executive director of Alabama Public Television, speaks with a colleague at the Alabama Educational Television Commission meeting on July 29, 2025, in Birmingham, Alabama. Reid said APT remains concerned about recent federal funding cuts to public media, but is working through some possible solutions. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
BIRMINGHAM — The director of Alabama Public Television (APT) said Tuesday that the public service broadcaster could drop NPR affiliate stations in the state following federal funding cuts.
Wayne Reid, executive director of APT, said it will lose about $3.2 million, equal to about 13% of its FY24 budget, in federal funding after President Donald Trump signed a law revoking $1.1 billion for public media over the next two fiscal years. Reid said there is a possibility that APT will drop the three NPR affiliate stations in Huntsville and instead take up programming from the Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
“We’ve got a great plan for taking what we’re losing and being able to move forward, and really engage more into the community,” Reid said.
He said APT is currently reviewing its budgets and does not have a concrete plan for future funding, but that it may include asking the state Legislature for additional funding. Board member Johnny Curry said the state should have no issue funding APT if it is able to educate legislators on what they do.
“Regardless of how we raise funds, I don’t see us stepping away from our core mission of providing educational products to the children of this state,” Curry said. “I don’t think we really are in danger of losing our state dollars if we educate the Legislature about what our education mission is. Our mission is not masterpiece theater.”
Another concern is the impact of federal cuts on PBS News Hour and other national programming from PBS. Reid said that Alabama is one of 16 networks in red states, about 20% of the country, who are unsure what will happen to national news coverage.
“Unfortunately, if we’re not part of PBS, that’s a problem, not being able to access that stuff,” Reid said.
While APT has its own programming, like Capitol Journal and broadcasts of high school sports, PBS supplies national programming, educational programming for kids, and digital streaming and sharing for the APT website.
“So if that went away, that’s a huge undertaking for us to come back with a new player, support, storage, everything else that we would have to do for that,” Reid said.
The commission met Kevin Cornell, creator of the PBS educational program Mister C, which teaches children about science, technology, engineering and math. He led the board and staff members at the meeting in an activity that he does on his show.
“The thing is with science, I expect everyone to fail, and that’s a great thing. Fail fast, fail often,” Cornell said.
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Author: Anna Barrett