Protect My Public Media

Protect Public Media - Protect KVNF

Protect Public Media - Protect KVNF

Right now, proposed federal budget cuts threaten to eliminate $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which helps support local stations like KVNF. While NPR and PBS are often in the spotlight, it’s community stations—especially in rural areas like our listening area—that rely most heavily on this support to keep local news, music, and emergency information on the air.

If successful, this could gut hundreds of local radio and television stations, including more than 1,000 NPR-affiliated and 336 PBS stations across the country.

At KVNF, federal funding helps us serve communities across the Western Slope with independent reporting, local music, cultural programming, and real-time emergency alerts. In areas with limited broadband or print media, public radio is sometimes the only reliable news source.

This funding accounts for less than 1/100th of 1% of the federal budget—but it makes a world of difference here at home.

Let’s make sure rural voices aren’t silenced. We urge you to contact your representatives and tell them to oppose any cuts to public media:
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Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO) – Your representative in the House

Washington, D.C. Office
1641 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-467

Grand Junction District Office
743 Horizon Court, Suite 112
Grand Junction, CO 81506
Phone: (970) 208-0455
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Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) – U.S. Senator for Colorado

Washington, D.C. Office
261 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5852
Toll-Free (Colorado): (866) 455-9866

Grand Junction Office
225 North 5th St.
Suite 511
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Phone: (970) 241-6631
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Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) – U.S. Senator for Colorado

Washington, D.C. Office
316 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5941

Grand Junction Office
225 North 5th St.
Suite 511
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Phone: (970) 241-6631
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Here are some sample scripts of what you can write to your representatives.

Grassroots Template

Dear [Representative's Name]

I urge you to strongly oppose the rescission of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This rescission would gravely impact — if not completely shutter — your local public radio station, KVNF, an essential community service organization in District 3.

As the representative for Colorado (or in District 3) please understand and appreciate the vital role of our local public radio station, and what will happen to your constituents if this essential service is lost. Local public radio stations work continuously to serve rural communities with lifesaving public safety information, local journalism, and programming that contributes to cultural preservation and discovery among rural audiences. To ensure this reliable, indispensable service for rural and remote communities across the country, our station and others need sustained, robust federal support; dedicated funding for infrastructure; and resources for station partnerships and collaborations. Please stand up for rural America by supporting federal funding for public media.

As a member, I know first-hand how essential this funding is to supporting the services KVNF provides District 3.KVNF serves 10,000 square miles of Colorado and rural communities like Lake City, Norwood, and Nucla, Paonia, Hotchkiss and Crawford. KVNF is also a destination for musicians seeking to build an audience through broadcast interviews and performances. Our Public Service Announcements (PSA)’s provide real time announcements things like: the movement of livestock across local roads - protecting motorists and livestock alike. Finally, KVNF provides the only daily radio broadcast of regional news, and without it there would be a void that adds to the “news deserts” plaguing rural, Western Colorado.

Across the country, public radio stations have deep service to rural communities, including parts of District 3. About 40 percent of public radio stations receiving federal funding through CPB are designated rural service stations, and many more serve rural communities. These stations are essential local news providers in areas where news deserts are growing and where communities may not have options for reliable emergency alerting. Maintaining this rural service is critical for supporting rural America.

[Add personal story about their work with or support of the station, and the value that they find in its service to the community]

I urge you to work with your colleagues to oppose this rescission. Lawmakers and the Administration must know how this dramatic action would harm rural America. We are counting on you in [district/state] to stand up for this vital public service in our community and preserve federal support for the public media system to ensure its continued existence now and into the future.

[Name]
[Signature]
____________________________________________

Music Template

Dear [Representative]

As a [STATION supporter/board member/donor], I know first-hand how necessary federal funding is to supporting the services that KVNF provides to District 3. KVNF is an independent, locally owned and operated public radio music station. We work continuously to serve your district with noncommercial music, as well as advance [insert something about music genre – e.g., the voice of jazz, highlight new artists, showcase the work of jazz veterans, and tell the story of jazz as an art form through our country’s history and culture]. Further, music stations — like all public radio stations — play a critical role in emergency alerting for our community.

KVNF serves 10,000 square miles of Colorado and rural communities like Lake City, Norwood, and Nucla, Paonia, Hotchkiss and Crawford. KVNF is also a destination for musicians seeking to build an audience through broadcast interviews and performances. Our Public Service Announcements (PSA)’s provide real time announcements things like: the movement of livestock across local roads - protecting motorists and livestock alike. Finally, KVNF provides the only daily radio broadcast of regional news, and without it there would be a void that adds to the “news deserts” plaguing rural, Western Colorado.

Noncommercial public radio music stations like ours could not survive without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the federal funding that CPB receives. Our station, and all public radio stations, rely on the blanket music licenses that CPB negotiates with the music collective rights organizations. CPB can provide efficient rights management solutions for every public media station, and it would be cost-prohibitive and burdensome for our station to negotiate the same licenses and fees on our own, dramatically impacting what we can offer our community in music programming. CPB then pays for those licenses with a small portion of the federal funds that it receives, preventing those costs from being passed down to our station.

CPB’s role in securing music licenses is truly an existential matter for noncommercial public radio stations like ours. Without these licenses, our programming will be immediately affected, threatening the viability of noncommercial music across the country and deeply impacting local artists, musicians, venues, and audiences who all rely on KVNF.

[Add personal story about their work with or support of the station, and the value that they find in its service to the community]

I urge you to work with your colleagues to oppose this rescission. Lawmakers and the Administration must know how this dramatic action would harm the public. We are counting on you in [district/state] to stand up for this vital public service in our community and preserve federal support for the public media system to ensure its continued existence now and into the future.

[Name]
[Signature]
____________________________________________

General Template

Dear [Representative]

Our Mountain Grown Community Radio station has built an archive of change for Western Colorado for 46 years as a trusted, non-profit broadcast source for our communities in a 10,000 square mile listening area. Without our vital services, small towns like Lake City, whose translator site runs on solar power and is extremely remote, would not get the emergency services KVNF alone can alert them to. They are a remote community with a single road ingress/egress.

Small, up and coming singer songwriters seek KVNF out to interview and perform, which helps them gain an audience they otherwise would not have access to. Our public service announcements often air information that our rural areas regard as essential to staying engaged in their communities (like which roads to avoid when sheep and cattle are using them, where to go in times of health emergencies, and who is hosting the latest meet and greet for local politicians.)

Finally, KVNF provides the only daily radio broadcast of regional news, and without it there would be a void that adds to the “news deserts” plaguing rural, Western Colorado.

[Name]
[Signature]

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Here are some sample scripts of what you can say when you call your representatives.

Hi, my name is [Name] and I’m a constituent from Paonia and a supporter of KVNF Community Radio.

I’m calling to urge [Representative's Name] to oppose any cuts to public broadcasting, including the proposed defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Stations like KVNF rely on this funding to provide essential local news, emergency alerts, music, and cultural programming—especially for rural communities like ours, where we don’t always have access to other sources.

Public radio is a lifeline out here. Please help keep it strong.

Thank you for your time.

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