“In a lot of markets, the only place for real in-depth local coverage is the PBS station, the only place for arts<br />and culture, the only place for safe harbor for kids.”<br />Ira Glass, host of “This American Life,” which does not receive any federal money, said, “Big stations in big cities will<br />certainly be fine, especially in blue cities, where listeners will surely step up to replace any money that goes away.”<br />But the proposed cuts, Mr. Glass added in an email, could make it far more difficult for producers to begin ambitious new national programming.<br />Patricia Harrison, the corporation’s president, warned in a statement on Thursday<br />that the Trump budget proposal, if enacted, could cause “the collapse of the public media system itself.”<br />But the power players in public broadcasting — big-city staples like WNYC in New York City — would be well-equipped to weather any cuts.<br />“If the beach washes out, the little houses go first,” he said, “but then the big houses go after that.”<br />A version of this article appears in print on March 17, 2017, on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Radio<br />and Television; Public Broadcasters Fear a ‘Collapse’.<br />“It’s not like cutting this would have any appreciable effect on any taxpayer across the country,<br />but losing PBS would,” Neal Shapiro, president of WNET in New York, said in an interview.<br />The potential elimination of about $445 million in annual funding, which helps local TV<br />and radio stations subscribe to NPR and Public Broadcasting Service programming, could be devastating for affiliates in smaller markets that already operate on a shoestring budget.
