Public TV survived Trump cutting its budget, thanks to spite
It has been a year since federal funding for public media got slashed, and stations are surprisingly still on the air.
When the government completely pulled the plug on six decades of federal support for public broadcasting, pretty much everyone assumed public radio and TV were finished. But telling loyal listeners their favorite quiet station is about to die turns out to be a masterclass in fundraising.
Driven by massive waves of rage-giving, local stations managed to keep the lights on by pivoting hard to digital channels, trimming overhead, and riding a wave of spite-driven subscriptions.
Turns out nothing gets people to pull out their credit cards quite like the threat of losing calm, unbothered radio voices.
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