Public radio engineering departments are operating in a new reality since federal funding for the sector dried up in 2025.
The loss of money means tighter cap-ex budgets and fewer technology projects, according to multiple sources.
Engineering and technology departments are also seeing lower staffing levels in some cases, though widespread cuts haven’t been evident. Local fundraising has made up for some of the loss after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting closed, though not all.
CPB provided grants to many public stations, though generally not specifically for public radio engineering.
In this new era, public radio engineering budgets are coming under more scrutiny.
One engineer in a major market told Radio World that his department has being asked whether “there is any money left over from projects that can be clawed back for other purposes.”
The cuts have left public engineers seeking to “strike a balance between operational efficiencies and being deliberate on how they allocate resources,” one source said.
Attendance at this spring’s Public Radio Engineering Conference in Las Vegas was “solid and up slightly,” according to the Association of Public Radio Engineers, when virtual attendance was counted in.
Yet Scott Hanley, president of APRE, said there were indications that the funding cuts are hitting hard.
“We heard from a number of stations, vendors and networks that did not send engineering and tech talent to PREC or the NAB Show this year. Many stations and universities, which a lot of stations are licensed to, have drastically cut their travel budgets.”
He said more PREC attendees chose the half-priced virtual option — of 109 registrations, more than 30 participated remotely.
Vermont Public Radio lost about $2 million in federal funding as a result of the federal cuts, though Joe Tymecki, its SVP of engineering & technology, says the loss has been mitigated by successful statewide fundraising campaigns.
Despite more local support, Vermont Public has cut staff positions and left others unfilled, including one in the technology department, Tymecki said.
“We have pulled back on things to concentrate on delivering the important stuff like being reliable and staying on the air. We are the state relay for EAS, which we take very seriously. It’s about making sure we maintain our systems,” he said. “I’d say we are in maintenance mode right now.”
Despite the federal rescission, Tymecki says his cap-ex funding “was level from last year to this year.”
This spring Vermont Public Media has been focused on adding a video product to a daily talk show, which will allow it to take content and turn around the video for posting to its digital platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and websites.
Tymecki said the loss of CPB has also created a vacuum of leadership on technical issues within public media.
“CPB made it possible for the rollout of HD Radio in a lot of markets where it wouldn’t have otherwise. They put a lot of money behind it and made it affordable for public broadcasters,” he noted.
“CPB provided a strategic and philosophical direction for public radio. That leadership on breakout technology has been lost now.”
The organization was also a good sounding board for questions about various technologies and governance, he said.
Stacey Decker, general manager and CEO of Nebraska Public Media (NPM), said it hasn’t eliminated engineering positions as a result of federal cuts, but its priority is to remain nimble while continuing to support people and services that are core to its mission.
He said NPM continues to invest in key areas.
“On the radio side, that includes expanding our service to Omaha in June 2026, with the launch of a new signal on 101.9 FM. We are also making targeted investments in equipment and workflows to strengthen the reliability and long-term sustainability of our radio service,” he said.
As of this spring NPM has not scaled back any major radio buildout initiatives, Decker said.
However, as one prominent DOE for a public radio group put it, stations are looking to “stretch every dime, and making careful calculations about what can be cut, and where. We are now seeing a reduction in maintenance of HVAC, generator and UPS systems, not to mention transmitters and even towers. Pushing out anything in hopes that there might be money for it later isn’t really a long-term strategy.”
This observer said that having a broadcast signal off the air for an extended time — once unthinkable — now may be acceptable in certain circumstances, given the upswing in digital consumption.
“Work that would only be scheduled at night normally is now being scheduled for the middle of the day, impacting drive time, because it is less expensive,” this source told Radio World.
Another public engineer in the field, who also requested not to be named, told Radio World the loss of CPB funding has hit small, rural public media broadcasters hardest. This person cited the rise of contract engineering groups and said these “can be a salvation for a small station with little to no engineering or technology department left in the building.”
Meanwhile, several broadcast equipment suppliers told us they are seeing a “more cautious approach” to spending by public broadcasters.
Media projects have slowed a bit, said Jeff Soderberg, enterprise solutions engineer with StreamGuys, which specializes in live and on-demand streaming tools for broadcasters.
“We’re seeing a conservative approach in public radio engineering spend. It hasn’t stopped, but stations are trying to manage budgets wisely and make each dollar go further.
“That said, most stations have recognized that digital distribution and digital revenue are important to their long-term sustainability. For that reason, we’re seeing caution more than a downturn,” Soderberg told Radio World in an email.
He said the reaction by public media broadcasters to the new reality varies.
“The smallest rural stations seem to be struggling the most, since they received larger portions of revenue from the CPB. Larger stations were receiving a smaller portion of revenue from the CPB and often had a stronger donor-base to make up the gap for now,” he said.
For the most part, Soderberg said there appears to be a consensus among broadcasters that digital is a key part of their future.
“They’re expecting to innovate, find new ways to collaborate with other stations, and new ways to generate revenue.”
Rob Bertrand is CEO of Inrush Broadcast Services and a former public radio engineer. He said the funding pressures faced by pubmedia have created opportunities for his company, which provides consulting, installation and maintenance services.
“There are organizations who are well-poised to pivot in this moment and change the way they operate or potentially not backfill full-time roles that face vacancy due to retirement or general attrition. In some cases this opens the opportunity to execute a project using external resources like Inrush,” Bertrand said.
In addition, public broadcasters are collaborating with other public media organizations in new ways, he said, or “at least they are trying to stabilize their legacy radio operations so they can pay more attention to future-growth areas such as digital expansion.”
He said at least some public media organizations are taking a business-as-usual approach.
“Their on-air fundraising pitches have changed, but in some cases they continue to delay the inevitable need to start operating in a new way. Change is hard for everyone, and there’s a full spectrum of reaction to meeting this moment,” Bertrand said in an email.
