WILLblog

So I've been out of town on an actual vacation, which is a good thing for mental health every once in a while, yes? But too bad, since I'm back just in time for this note from WILL station Manager Jay Pearce:

All, You'll be receiving more information on this soon from Don...but I wanted to take a moment to give you a heads up from where I sit. As you may be aware, a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee voted last week to cut the money already approved for CPB's FY06 Community Service Grants. The proposal is to cut 100-million dollars (about 25%) from this program by which stations like ours receive our federal funding. This federal grant makes up about 25% of WILL Radio's budget. Also on the chopping block...money for Ready to Learn, Digital Conversion and PTFP (equipment grants). CPB is being told to take the money from its general appropriation is it still wants to fund these programs. This would require cutting Community Service Grants even more. All together...these cuts could result in a total cut of 45% in federal funding for public broadcasting. Needless to say...this would be absolutely devastating to WILL. I'm not trying to cause panic or anything. But I do want you to know this is considered to be a serious situation. We will be joining in a massive effort to get listeners to call their congressional representatives to let them know what they think of this. Don has recorded a message which will be aired frequently on AM, FM and TV - setting out the situation. As I mentioned above, you'll be receiving more info about this soon...including what our assessment of the impact to WILL might be....

Let's just add real quick that no-one at WILL will tell you what to say to your Congressional representatives. If you are happy to see big chunks chopped out of public broadcasting, you can certainly tell them that. Either way, better do it soon, and as loudly and clearly as possible. And now it's (*sigh*) back to work for me. More soon...