Big Bird Flips the Bird

College graduation came and went, and I hadn't a clue what to do. I had a middle-of-the-road state university arts degree, and no money (or much motivation) to do grad school. My folks had gotten a much-needed divorce while I was away at school. I loaded up the Gran Torino and headed to the sunny shore of Corpus Christi, where my mom had moved in with my grandparents. They figured another down-and-out family member in the house was OK, so I put the few pieces of furniture I owned (that you couldn't give away at a yard sale) into storage and moved in.

A college friend was in the area working for a local radio station, and thought that maybe I could get into radio sales. This was about as inspired a recommendation as it sounds. I bought a shirt with a collar, a tie, and maybe a pair of non-denim pants. Answered a couple of ads for radio sales. Went about as well as you imagine it would.

Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: "Yes, Mr. Newlin, what brings you in to KWUT; WUT's the lowdown on your showdown?"
Your humble narrator: "um, what?"
Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: "That's KWUT, Number 8 in the market, number 1 in my heart. What's your plan, man? How will you turn around this slow dance bummer into a rock 'n roll summer? Can you spin the hits, Mr. Newlin, or do you call it quits?"
Your humble narrator: "Um, well, I'm a real hard-working, team player."
Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: "Solid gold, Slick! Lay it on me, have you ever worked in sales before?"
Your humble narrator: "Well, have you ever heard of skunk weed?"
Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: "That I have my man, that I have. Tell me, what kind of tunes will you be spinning five years from now?"
Your humble narrator: <reaching radio enlightenment> "You know, I want some hot wheels to spin on these mean streets, a feather pillow to lay my head on, and a 500-watt stereo with Altec Lansing speakers and a subwoofer that rocks the walls while I roll my baby."
Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: <Silence. A beat.> Wellllll! Rock on, dude! You're the man with the plan, the cat in the hat, the bro who wants mo', fo' sho'!"
Your humble narrator: "So, I got the job!"
Radio Sales Dude in plaid jacket: "No way, son, you ain't got no experience."

After a few of those, it got downright disheartening.

I saw an ad for a very entry-level slot at the area PBS station, KEDT. "Director trainee." I had a small photography portfolio and had made a couple of (unsaved) student films. Maybe with my charming personality and (feigned) intelligence, I could weasel my way in to sweeping the floors.

I interviewed with the station's production manager at their studio located in a small strip shopping center. The manager was attentive, good-natured, and seemed genuinely interested in my background, education, and small portfolio. We toured the station as he outlined a position that would require me to learn and contribute in almost every facet of broadcast video production. "Uh, I guess so... sure," I no doubt replied in that eager, self-starter way that I have.

For whatever reason (desperation? A lapse in judgment?), he offered me a job at the kingly sum of $11,000 a year. I'd probably have done it for half that.

I found my place. I learned to produce and edit stories with a professional camera and state-of-the-art tape machines. I worked with a couple of young show producers on a local business program - shooting interviews, hanging studio and field lights, and of course, I directed those live pledge breaks. The station also worked with local school districts on educational programs. A companion radio station aired classical music, jazz, news, and programs devoted to the local arts scene.

It was a community operation. Business leaders, educators, politicos, and non-profit types all took part in our programming, fundraising, and news gathering. The staff was smart and dedicated. Most of them could have doubled their salaries if they'd moved to a larger media market. They loved their community, and they loved producing a broadcast every bit as good as a 'big city' TV/radio station could.

One of the friends-for-life that I made in my short time working there was Don Dunlap, now the President/General Manager of the place. When I was there, he was the assistant chief engineer, which meant he was the one who had the duct tape and baling wire that kept us on the air. It speaks to his character and management skills that he went from an engineering position to lead the station. He recently managed a build-out and move to an ultra-modern, state-of-the-art facility on the campus of the area Jr. College, allowing them to expand their educational mission and partnerships.

You already know where this is leading. Yes, it's personal to me because the institution that Trump and the GOP are destroying was my career origin story. And yes, I still enjoy the programming that PBS and NPR offer. But the "defunding" of Public television and radio is nothing more than the slow starving of a resource that has fed generations with knowledge, art, and culture.

The PBS and NPR stations that we know today were born as part of LBJ's "Great Society" initiative; they were to serve the public good and not corporate profits. LBJ signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, funded by Congress. Under the Act, the congressional declaration of policy stated that it was in the public interest for the CPB to facilitate the development of educational, cultural, and other programming not provided by commercial broadcasters, as well as programming for audiences that were unserved or underserved by commercial broadcasters, especially those in rural areas.

My buddy Don traveled to Washington, DC, recently with several other Texas public broadcasting executives and station managers. It's an almost annual visit that they make to discuss funding and other matters with representatives at the Capitol. This year's trip had a sense of urgency. Trump had already announced that he was considering cutting back on CPB funding, if not eliminating it. Don noted that he'd never seen Washington in such a state of chaos. Hotel lobbies, bars, and hallways were filled with groups having impromptu strategy sessions and intense meetings. There were folks from all over the country, from various agencies, non-profits, NGOs, academia, hospital systems, and all manner of industry.

The Texas PBS group had a meeting scheduled with Senator John Cornyn. He met with them in his office and greeted them with a dry, "What do you folks want?" They were incredulous to explain that it was about funding, see... And the threat... That the CPB might be eliminated. "Well, I heard about all of this at the same time that you folks did. Heard it through the media. Don't know much else about it."

There wasn't much more to say.

The CPB was defunded a few days later. Only two Republicans voted against the cuts. You will not be surprised to learn that Cornyn wasn't one of them.

KEDT-TV and its sister radio station KEDT-FM will lose slightly over a million dollars in funding, or around 39% of their annual budget. They rely on viewer pledges, donations, and more and more sponsors to support operations and programming. 28% of their funding comes from special events and some sponsored local programming. Most of the rest comes from viewers. As a comparison, Houston Public Media (Houston's PBS/NPR station) will lose $2.2 million annually — or nearly 10% of its annual operating budget. So yeah, the smaller rural stations will be hit harder.

From experience, I can tell you that there is no waste at a PBS station, and fundraising never stops. The steady and productive growth of the station is a testament to Don, his staff, and the community that KEDT serves, but it's always a struggle to keep the donations flowing. There are lean years when the economy falters. A big underwriter might move or redirect its giving.

On the local station level, most stations strive to be as apolitical as possible. But it grows harder with the right-wing assault that labels public broadcasting as a subsidized megaphone for "liberal bias." I imagine that Ken Burns' famous Civil War documentary was too much for them to bear. What with it showing slavery and all. Very hurtful for the GOP. Programming is often weighted towards science (Nova, Nature,) history (American Experience, Find Your Roots, documentaries - including those from popular filmmaker Ken Burns,) the arts (Masterpiece Theater, Great Performances, Austin City Limits, live concerts), and in-depth news (Frontline, the PBS NewHour, Washington Week, Firing Line...) It seems that science, history, the arts, and objective news coverage are all kryptonite for Republicans.

From a recent piece in the Corpus Christi Caller Times:

KEDT serves more than 2.2 million people in South Texas from Victoria to the Rio Grande Valley. The public broadcasting station reaches 27 counties and 123 school districts... GM Don Dunlap said 70 hours of children's programming are broadcast weekly to benefit young ones who will be starting preschool, pre-K or kindergarten.

"Watching these shows helps prepare them to enter the classroom and be months ahead,. It helps increase their literacy, critical thinking and socialization skills."

Dunlap said all of these educational services, including community services such as local TV series and special reports will be affected by funding cuts.

Survival is not assured with over a third of your budget cut in an instant. Programming will be cut, staff will be reduced even further, and local production will be slashed.

Dunlap said he is concerned about losing services, such as live performances of the Corpus Christi Symphony, as no commercial media will pick up the possible coming remnants.
"If we get cut, all of our services will go away," Dunlap said. "They're not commercially viable, and that's what drives media these days — commercial advertising being run from outside of our community. We're the only locally owned television station in Corpus Christi, and one of the few locally owned radio stations."

Dunlap said KEDT will fail if it's not able to replace the lost funding.

I've seen all of this referred to as a "cultural purge." It's one of those side benefits of fascism.

But I don't want to sound like a Republican: 'you can't cut this program, that's the one I like!' If your life hasn't been touched yet by the purge, it will be, and soon.

• Trump replaced the board of the Kennedy Center with loyalists and named himself chairman. It has been suggested that he will rename the center "Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts." Trump will host the Kennedy Center Awards for recipients that he claims to have had a hand in selecting. He has suggested that he will also have a hand in selecting the 'arts' performed there.
• His Orangeness will begin to vet exhibits, collections, grants, and management of the Smithstonian Museums. He would prefer a more "patriotic" and "uplifting" view of US history. He will send his little flying trump-monkeys out to "consider all current and planned exhibitions at eight Smithsonian museums, scouring wall text, websites and social media “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”"
• The National Endowment for the Arts is also under siege. "The NEA is funding independent film labs, rural arts programs, youth theaters, music therapy for veterans and the very first touchpoint of art for more than 41 million Americans. Every dollar the NEA awards generates nine more from private and local partners. That’s a $207 million federal investment that unlocks nearly $2 billion in nationwide arts funding. That money fuels young artists, sustains small theaters and dance companies, and funds the kind of early exposure to the arts that makes a future screenwriter, set designer, or showrunner possible."
• You think that posting the 10 Commandments in every classroom isn't a great idea? Private and religious schools are ready to scoop up taxpayer dollars under Texas' and other states' new voucher programs. Worse, ultra-right-wing groups are ready to step in with curriculum and programming that PBS and public school systems used to provide. One wretched example is "Prager U." Prager produces short, mostly animated video clips that teach subjects from a (very) conservative viewpoint. You'll see, for example, abolitionist Frederick Douglass claim that “slavery was a part of life all over the world. It was America that began the conversation to end it,” which is, ahem, bullshit. Ten states have already approved the use of Prager U materials and curriculum in classrooms, Texas, of course, being one. Prager U has also produced a test to be given to teachers to "weed out 'woke' teacher applicants. Oklahoma is already using this test, targeting teachers who have moved from "woke" states like California and New York. Oklahoma, it will come as no surprise, is near the bottom of public ed rankings and can't find enough teachers to teach in its classrooms. In lieu of PBS and public education, ladies and gentlemen...

So you're not into the arts, humanities, or science, and you could give a rat's patootie about education? "Hey, my kids are grown, who cares?"

<sigh> We haven't touched on cuts to medical research, Medicaid, the National Weather Service (and NOAA), public universities, world food and drug aid, veterans affairs... I don't have space to list them all.

What's happening to Big Bird, the Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, and Oscar the Grouch is coming soon to an agency near you.

“You’d be a grouch, too, if you lived in a trash can!” — Oscar the Grouch

Welcome to the trash can, err'body.

*The actual funding and distribution for Sesame Street gets complicated.

** Though this quote is often repeated, it is somewhat apocryphal. His family confirms that it did reflect Churchill's attitude. His daughter recalled when "The Director of the National Gallery, Kenneth Clark, suggested that the paintings in the National Gallery should be sent from London to Canada. Churchill was against this suggestion, and emphatically so. “No,” he minuted, “bury them in caves and cellars. None must go. We are going to beat them.”"