Public broadcasting faced a 40% cut in state funding when the General Assembly adjourned. That was down from the original 100% cut. Gov. Kaine changed it to 10% and the Assembly agreed to that amount when it reconvened on April 8.  For WMRA, that means about $12,000 less come July. 

Thank you to everyone who contacted your legislators about this during the session.  

Following is the letter we sent to the legislators in the WMRA area.  If you wish to thank yours for sparing public broadcasting the larger cut, you can find contact information here.


Dear...

I want to thank you and your fellow legislators for the difficult work you accomplished in balancing the budget amidst all the challenges you faced.  In particular, I appreciate that you and the General Assembly recognized the valuable role of public broadcasting in the lives of citizens of the Commonwealth.  We faced the prospect of losing much or all state funding, and we are grateful to accept the 10% cut that is in line with what others received.

WMRA’s mission is to foster informed, engaged and culturally enriched communities.  As politics and civic life become increasingly contentious, this mission is more important than ever.  

We believe that a broadly-informed populace that feels engaged with our civic life is essential to the effective functioning of our democratic process.   We are contributing to that end every day with in-depth national and local news and balanced, civil conversations during our many talk programs, including “Virginia Insight” which often focuses on issues and politics of the Commonwealth.

It is a testament to the importance of public radio in Virginia and throughout the nation that our audiences are growing at a time when commercial radio audiences are shrinking.  Public radio now serves more than 30 million Americans each week.  National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” is the second most listened to radio program in the country, and NPR’s “All Things Considered” ranks third.  Many more people tune in to “Morning Edition” than to any of the morning news programs on network television.

On behalf of WMRA’s 50,000+ listeners, thank you for your dedicated service to your constituents and to the Commonwealth of Virginia.  WMRA and our public broadcasting partners will continue to work every day to prove our relevance to our communities and the state.

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