Quick Take
Two prominent non-commercial radio stations in the Monterey Bay area – KAZU and KSQD – are facing the second Trump administration with different concerns, the former with the threat of the withdrawal of federal funding, and the latter with worries about free speech.
This year marks the big 8-0 for what we colloquially understand today as “public radio.” In 1945, a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission created a set-aside for non-commercial and educational broadcasters on the FM radio dial. That’s the so-called “Left of the Dial” territory that has been the star-making platform for Terry Gross, Garrison Keillor, Ira Glass and countless others.
Considering the second Trump administration’s thirst for sweeping cuts to federal programs and for kneecapping “the libs,” you can’t fault those who love non-commercial radio to wonder if that ruling will last to an 81st birthday.
The two most prominent Left of the Dial stations broadcasting in Santa Cruz County are KSQD (90.7 FM) in Santa Cruz and KAZU (90.3 FM) in Seaside. They are two very different stations with very different orientations. The former is a community non-commercial station with no direct government funding. KAZU, on the other hand, is owned by California State University Monterey Bay, and is directly affiliated with National Public Radio and other entities supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that distributes federal funds to public broadcasters. That means the two stations also have two very different concerns about a potentially hostile new administration in Washington. The threat to one is a possible funding cutoff. The threat to the other is possible crackdown on free speech.
How likely is it that the Trump administration would put public broadcasting in its crosshairs? Though it might seem the president and his minions are distracted by other dragons to slay, in 2023, shortly after purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk, who is wielding unprecedented influence in the Trump White House, labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media” and once tweeted, “Defund @NPR.” More to the point, newly appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr said in January, “I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS.” Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for remaking the federal government, specifically calls for the elimination of CPB.
KAZU does in fact receive funding from the federal government through a CPB grant, but it’s not as big as you might think, accounting for about 10% of the station’s revenue every year. (CPB funding makes up an average of 6% of all public radio broadcasting revenue nationally.)
Other than some in-kind donations from CSUMB, the CPB grant is the only government funds that KAZU receives. The CPB reported that KAZU received $212,147 in federal grants, part of the more than $80.2 million that the CPB allocated in 2024 in community service grants to radio stations nationwide.
“There is some concern in the industry about it,” said KAZU’s interim general manager, Douglas McKnight, “but it hasn’t been huge.”
The funding cycles at CPB have a two-year lead time, so even if the Trump administration were to somehow find a way to zero out public broadcasting tomorrow, stations like KAZU would still be funded this fiscal year and next — though Congress, and only Congress, has the right to impound already appropriated funding. (Of course, one of the central themes of the second Trump administration so far is an insistence that the president has the right to freeze spending in whatever way he sees fit.)
Also, the amount of money a given station receives from a CPB grant is highly dependent on how much it raises by other means such as donations, underwriting and membership, meaning generally that the stations that get the most government funding also have the most robust means of raising money from other sources.
That means that at stations like KAZU, there might not be a sense of alarm, at least in the near term, that beloved programming like “Fresh Air,” “All Things Considered,” “Radioab” or “Science Friday” is going to disappear because Donald Trump is president. But, said McKnight, KAZU listeners would notice a change if the federal funding was withdrawn.
“It’s easy to say that it’s only 10%, therefore it doesn’t matter,” he said. “But we are a nonprofit radio station. So when we have income, it doesn’t go to shareholders or for bonuses. Every nickel we get we use it to provide public service to the community. So what that 10% means is that we would have to find another revenue source, or we would have to cut back 10% of what we do. And that’s a shame, because there is a great need now to get out information that is fact-checked, provide civil debates and civil discussions and background information on what’s going on in the world. So, if we lose that 10%, we would have to adjust our expectations.”
KAZU — which serves Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties — has nine full-time employees, including two full-time news staffers. McKnight said that the station is planning on hiring two more news reporters. It is also looking for a new general manager. McKnight, 79 and a veteran of KAZU for more than 20 years, took the job on an interim basis when Helen Barrington left the position for personal reasons in January after less than a year on the job. He said he expects the new general manager to be in place by April.
Unlike KAZU, KSQD in Santa Cruz — established in 2019, in the middle of the first Trump administration, and planning for its sixth-anniversary celebration, “Squid Fest West,” on March 15 — doesn’t rely on any government support for its funding. But, like all broadcasters, it is subject to the rules and regulations of the FCC. The station’s format ranges from news to public affairs to music, but it regularly broadcasts viewpoints that MAGA voters might find objectionable, protected, of course, under the First Amendment. But First Amendment protections are not absolute and, to the degree free speech is regulated, it’s the FCC that’s doing the regulating, at least in the realm of the broadcast spectrum. Those restrictions are specifically spelled out and include not only obscenity but issues such as hoaxes, the proper conduct of on-air contests and the misuse of the federal Emergency Alert System.
KSQD’s station manager, David Bean, who has been on the job for five months now, said that the station’s strategy coming into Trump 2.0 is a new focus on strict compliance with FCC regulations, to keep clear of the FCC’s attention.
“We haven’t heard from Mr. Musk yet,” said Bean. “Nobody has come to our office or sent us an email. But we do have certain requirements from the federal government to maintain our license as a non-commercial educational station. And we are now actually reviewing those requirements to make sure we’re staying within the guidelines, so we don’t confront any questions from the FCC.”
That includes a new caution about how ticket giveaways and contests are mentioned on the air. “That’s getting really down to granular levels that we hadn’t really felt we needed to operate in before,” said Bean.
As far as content that might draw fire from ultra-right regulators, KSQD produces not only much local content, but airs syndicated shows with a progressive/liberal orientation from “Thom Hartmann” to “Democracy Now.” Bean said that the new Trump era has forced the station into a kind of introspection on its mission when it comes to political speech.
“We were always a station that is outspoken in commenting on local politics and national politics and international politics,” said Bean. “What the change in the administration seems to have done for us is to now reflect on what that could mean again, under the FCC license that we operate under, under the current administration’s seeming threats towards the media. Also, in our own right, we are debating and discussing how much to be a resistance voice. We were always a resistance voice, but now that word has a different resonance. I mean, is there a resistance? How much should we be part of that resistance?”
“I don’t predict the future,” said KAZU’s McKnight. “I’ve been wrong too many times. But I wouldn’t expect any huge differences [in programming at KAZU]. The differences will be more subtle, and I have no idea what they would be. I mean, we face the same challenges that you [at Lookout] face. We have a world in which media has somewhat been shattered. We don’t know the outcome of that. And there are more alternatives. There tends to be less focus on us or you, because people are going to social media or other internet outlets. So how do we hold all of that together, and what and how to what purpose do we serve in doing that? Who do we serve? All of those challenges lie ahead, and have to be addressed by us and by you.”
“Squid Fest West,” a celebration of KSQD’s sixth birthday and benefit show, takes place March 15, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz.
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