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David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and I'm David Fair. We should know sooner rather than later whether Congress will grant the Trump administration's wish to claw back money already dedicated to public media for this fiscal year and next. I'm David Fair, and this is dedicated money already sitting in the U.S. Treasury awaiting disbursement. We could know by the end of the day tomorrow what that decision will be. Joining me now is WEMU General Manager Molly Motherwell to kind of take us through the process, explain the real and potential impacts to WEMU and explore what that may mean to you. Molly, thanks for stopping by and filling us in today!
Molly Motherwell: Thanks for having me!
David Fair: I first want to know. You understand the process and have been following much closer than most of us. What is going to happen tomorrow?
Molly Motherwell: Tomorrow is a procedural vote. It's a vote that determines the rules and procedures and order of business, instead of directly debating and talking about the substance of the bill, so tomorrow in the Senate will be dedicated to that. And then, on Wednesday, the Senate will start talking about this substance of the resolution, entertain amendments, they're kind of calling it a vote-o-rama, that amendments will be introduced and they vote on whether to accept amendments, whether there will be amendments, whether they will vote separately on amendments or put everything together as one package. So, they're expecting that to take about 10 hours, and that is on Wednesday.
David Fair: And there is a deadline for passing this. It will not go through if we get, what, pass the 18th?
Molly Motherwell: There is. But now, there's kind of a gray area in that.
David Fair: Of course.
Molly Motherwell: Of course. As it stands, Congress had 45 days to act on this request from the White House when it was made, and the 12:59 p.m. Eastern time on the 18th is the deadline for that. If this goes back to the House, there may be a little bit of wiggle room in there if they have to debate and then vote on an amended package from the Senate. But we don't know if that is going to happen or not. It could happen. There's some complicated language that I'm not going to attempt to introduce here because I don't want to say it the wrong way. But there is a potential that the deadline could be extended a little bit if this goes back to the House.
David Fair: So, let's look at impact, first at public media in general and then to WEMU specific.
Molly Motherwell: Well, there's just an incredible impact on so many levels. And I should start out, David, by saying the American people are overwhelmingly in support of federal funding for public broadcasting. The last poll I saw said 68% of Americans think that federal funding for public media is a good thing. They want this! And it depends on the type of station, but who's going to be most affected are the small stations, the minority stations, the tribal stations, because their CPB funding is almost 100% of their budget. And so many stations in these rural areas, that many of which are not reached by broadband, they're not reached satellite, they'll have to go dark. And these are the only public safety emergency alert stations in their area. They're the only stations that have local news in that area, so that impact will be enormous! For WEMU, we will lose at least $150,000 a year, potentially more. We will probably have our rates to NPR go up, and we will be spending more for the emergency alert system, which we're the primary station for two counties. And that the big gray area for us is, right now, CPB negotiates and pays for all of the royalty rights, for all the music on public media--all of it. And we don't know how much that is. It is paid through December 31st, but we don t know how much that is, so that could have a huge effect on WEMU.
David Fair: In fact, it could have an impact on staffing and programming.
Molly Motherwell: Right! Exactly!
David Fair: And we're talking our weekend specialty music programs. We're such a vital part of our identity at WEMU, so the potential for impact is tremendous. Whether or not it comes to pass, we don't know. And even after this vote, I assume this is not the final word.
Molly Motherwell: Well, probably not. No one has put forth a plan yet of what's going to happen. It's ready to go. NPR, we talk twice a week--all of the authorized representatives from the stations talk twice week with NPR about this. But, no, the fight will never be over, because this is so important. It's a public service. It's a public service across the country, and public broadcasting reaches 99% of the country. So, there is still time. Go to our website, WEMU.org, click on "Protect My Public Media," and you can find out how you can make a difference. Since this was announced on the 7th, more than 220,000 emails and 12,000 phones have gone into the Senate in support of federal funding for public media.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much! That is WEMU General Manager Molly Motherwell, and you'll stay tuned to WEMU for all of the results.
Molly Motherwell: We will keep you informed!
David Fair: That's exactly right! I'm David Fair, and this is 89.1 WEMU.
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