The Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease operations on September 30th.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

WSRE in Pensacola, Florida is leaving PBS next summer. 

 

They're run by Pensacola State College, and serve the western portion of the Florida Panhandle, as well as reaching into South Alabama as an alternative to Alabama Public Television.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/education/2025/09/17/wsre-end-pbs-affiliation-with-next-summer/86177581007/

 

APT's reach is weak since WEIQ in Mobile is lower-powered and WDIQ in Dozier only reaches the far inland portions of the DMA.  The next closest station is WFSG in Panama City which is a repeater of WFSU in Tallahassee owned by Florida State.

 

Couple this with WEAR's uber-dominance on the Florida side, and nothing but godcasters (WHBR/CTN and WFBD/TCT) and WPAN (informercials and brokered access), it only cements that area as a conservative hell-hole with stations like WSRE and WUWF (NPR station owned by the University of West Florida) cow-towing to the Trump and DeSantis administrations.

 

Now I"m down to Alabama Public Television as well since MPB is ALSO leaving PBS next summer, and WSRE was always my choice of PBS programming that was more local than the stuff being piped down from Montgomery...

Edited September 17, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

However, unlike WSRE, WEIU, and MPB but just like WPSU, it looks like NJ PBS is the next to be shut down completely.

 

https://newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-jersey-pbs-shutting-down-in-july/

[TVLurker 389]

19 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

However, unlike WSRE, WEIU, and MPB but just like WPSU, it looks like NJ PBS is the next to be shut down completely.

 

https://newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-jersey-pbs-shutting-down-in-july/

Obviously they're willing to take away a miniscule budget for public broadcasting just so they can give the rich tax breaks so this is to be expected. I'm really disappointed that NJ PBS is shutting down.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

6 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

Obviously they're willing to take away a miniscule budget for public broadcasting just so they can give the rich tax breaks so this is to be expected. I'm really disappointed that NJ PBS is shutting down.

With NJ PBS going away, it basically takes away the last group of stations devoted to the state of New Jersey.  Long ago WMGM shut down their Atlantic City operation in favor of WCAU, and WWOR has zero presence in NJ even after all of the time and effort was spent to license them to Secaucus to try and save their license in the RKO General scandal.  Fox basically undid all that and 9 broadcast plaza is long gone as well.

[Action Newsroom 1376]

20 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

[...] it looks like NJ PBS is the next to be shut down completely.

 

https://newjerseyglobe.com/media/new-jersey-pbs-shutting-down-in-july/

I spent a lot of my childhood watching NJN during the day, and was saddened when it ceased operations for NJ PBS. Now I'm saddened that it's going too.

[GodfreyGR 812]

While not shutting down completely, WDSE/Duluth is sunsetting their local public affairs show "Almanac North" that airs after, and mirrors "Almanac" from KTCA/Minneapolis. Almanac North got rebooted with a new set and hosts last year after the retirement of longtime hosts Julie Zenner and Dennis Anderson in 2023.

 

Funding cuts have been cited for the reason.

 

https://www.fox21online.com/2025/09/23/pbs-north-to-conclude-almanac-north/

[MD TV 389]

38 minutes ago, Action Newsroom said:

I spent a lot of my childhood watching NJN during the day, and was saddened when it ceased operations for NJ PBS. Now I'm saddened that it's going too.

That reminds me, I'm wondering now how long New Jersey Public Radio has. When NJN radio shut down the North/Central Jersey stations were acquired by WNYC to create that network while the South Jersey stations became straight simulcasts of WHYY radio.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

More reporting from WEAR in Pensacola on what could happen to Pensacola State College's WSRE when their agreement with PBS expires next June:

https://weartv.com/news/local/wsre-tv-foundation-explores-future-options-as-psc-severs-ties-seeks-station-assets?fbclid=IwY2xjawNDiXxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHof5b5wZtwtLvT_1VegX-JHrUYorMVLLJ6Gp80S0lcjOZ6ppUuQA4MTAbpUC_aem_lN7h_gGQzoJq2okLxhn9aw

 

It's not looking good at this point.  The college is trying to shut down the station while the foundation that runs WSRE is refusing to let that happen.

 

The foundation is looking at even acquiring another commercial station in the market..and WPAN could be a station that fits that bill, especially if they broker a feed on it, like most of it's other subchannels.

 

Other possibilities could be selling the station to another public broadcaster. The most likely would be Florida State University since they run a satellite station in Panama City that rebroadcasts WFSU.  They could easily extend their reach to Pensacola through WSRE or otherwise, and already have a presence in the area with a satellite Medical School campus near the University of West Florida.

 

It's entirely possible to put a PBS station on a commercial license.  WNED did it for decades since they were formerly a failed NBC O&O that went under in the 50s.  The only reason they went non-commercial was to perform a license swap with their sister station WNEQ so it could be sold to LIN to be operated as WNLO commercially.

Edited September 26, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[AmericanErrorist 267]

On its last days of operation, they managed to stir up a civil war in public radio by issuing a grant to PRX and several stations to set up a competing satellite program distribution interconnect in opposition to NPR's longstanding platform, and NPR is suing:

 

https://radioink.com/2025/09/29/public-radio-fractures-as-npr-battles-cpb-over-network-control/

[nathannah 2792]

On 9/11/2025 at 7:26 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

We now have our first major actual shutdown of a public broadcasting outlet as a result of these cuts: Penn State's WPSU-TV-FM.

 

They've just rejected a proposal to transfer the stations' licenses over to WHYY Philadelphia. Instead, they'll close by June 30th, 2026.

And now James Franklin has been fired as Penn State's football coach. I only mention this because he has a $49.5 million contract buyout three times beyond PSU's planned contribution to WPSU that the university will pay, so somehow this becomes more offensive on second glance as to the school's true priorities (and there's also a new scandal involving switching their athletic outfitting deal from Nike to Adidas).

Edited October 12, 2025 by nathannah

[Megatron81 343]

PSU likes its football over WPSU the boosters do since it is them that is paying James Franklin's buyout and doesn't pay for WPSU bills like they do the football program, and I didn't know that Penn State is leaving Nike for Adidas which Penn State needs Nike more than Nike needs Penn State. Sorry for going off topic a bit.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

22 hours ago, nathannah said:

And now James Franklin has been fired as Penn State's football coach. I only mention this because he has a $49.5 million contract buyout three times beyond PSU's planned contribution to WPSU that the university will pay, so somehow this becomes more offensive on second glance as to the school's true priorities (and there's also a new scandal involving switching their athletic outfitting deal from Nike to Adidas).

Seems like this is more financially damning than the whole Jerry Sandusky / Joe Paterno scandal that ended the latter's tenure as head coach and vacated a lot of their wins at the time.

College Football is out of control and the NIL deals / transfer portal are only making it worse.  These schools need to clamp down on their deals and loosen the contracts of coaches who can't get wins on the field or make their teams competetive.  No way should a failed coach be able to collect millions of dollars for a contract he signed.

But PBS is just a drop in the bucket here and the local community loses out on a trusted resource because of athletics and their grossly inept and out of control spending.

On the flipside, expect to see more sports on PBS stations, especially that of high school teams.

Alabama Public Television has partnered with the AHSAA to broadcast a weekly "Game of The Week" statewide on their stations, as well as airing the "Super 7" tournament on their stations.

Edited October 13, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[mer764KCTV5 213]

So, umm, Penn-State really just reversed the decision to shut down WPSU-FM-TV and will now sell the stations to Philly based WHYY-FM-TV.

 

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2025/10/13/penn-state-wpsu-whyy-ownership-transfer-radio/stories/202510130067

[Action Newsroom 1376]

1 hour ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

So, umm, Penn-State really just reversed the decision to shut down WPSU-FM-TV and will now sell the stations to Philly based WHYY-FM-TV.

The right decision and only decision they could've made. Should've been sooner, but better now then never.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

3 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

So, umm, Penn-State really just reversed the decision to shut down WPSU-FM-TV and will now sell the stations to Philly based WHYY-FM-TV.

 

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2025/10/13/penn-state-wpsu-whyy-ownership-transfer-radio/stories/202510130067

 

The non-paywalled version:

https://archive.is/zv9wx

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Guess they needed the cash after all...

 

Too bad Auburn University doesn't own a PBS or NPR station...That would be quick sale to APT/APR to buy out Hugh Freeze WHEN they fire him....

[nomadcowatbk 188]

10 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

On the flipside, expect to see more sports on PBS stations, especially that of high school teams.

many PBS have stations have had highlight shows but what about live games?,  CPTV had UConn Women's Bball

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

4 hours ago, nomadcowatbk said:

many PBS have stations have had highlight shows but what about live games?,  CPTV had UConn Women's Bball

 

SDPB, NPM, and Iowa PBS all say hold my beer.

[AmericanErrorist 267]

The CEO of PBS lays out the dire path ahead for the network:

 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/pbs-plan-save-stations-programming-without-federal-funding-1236555669

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

And another statewide network (Alabama Public Television) is considering dropping PBS.
https://www.al.com/news/2025/10/alabama-public-television-may-cut-ties-with-pbs-cutting-off-sesame-street-other-educational-shows.html

The article erroneously claims that Alabama is the first statewide network to do this...MPB is leaving PBS and NPR next year.

 

After the decision of Mississippi Public Broadcasting AND WSRE in Pensacola to leave PBS, this could have me going from THREE PBS member stations I have access to.. to ZERO.

This could create a large PBS desert in Alabama and Mississippi, extending into Northwest Florida. 

 

 

Unfortunately, as the reality sets in of no more federal funding, other shoes could drop to the point of PBS itself being in question.

Edited October 29, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[TVLurker 389]

I cannot believe Trump is making PBS into a rich person's thing.

[AmericanErrorist 267]

31 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

I cannot believe Trump is making PBS into a rich person's thing.

I can.

[Dave Lampstein 287]

WETA has canceled PBS News Weekend and 34 staffers laid off

 

The bureau at ASU will also be closed

 

New weekend programs will be spun up, but pre-recorded during the week

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

1 hour ago, Dave Lampstein said:

WETA has canceled PBS News Weekend and 34 staffers laid off

 

The bureau at ASU will also be closed

 

New weekend programs will be spun up, but pre-recorded during the week

 

This is the non-paywalled article from Current, which is paywalled.

 

https://archive.is/RCFSQ

[AKA 70]