by Kimberly King

Mon, May 5th 2025 at 7:10 PM

OCT. 11, 2022 – A recording booth in use at Blue Ridge Public Radio. (Photo credit: WLOS staff)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Asheville-based Blue Ridge Public Radio faces a potential $300,000 federal funding cut after President Trump’s executive order to stop funding for NPR and PBS.

BPR provides local news content for over 80,000 listeners daily.

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A major fundraising drive has started on the airwaves informing listeners about the looming cuts.

For small public broadcast stations, the general manager Ele Ellis said federal funding is critical to remain locally staffed.

“We are by and large funded by people in this area who are looking for local news and I think you can see in the coverage we did last fall with Helene, how important it is to have people that live in this area doing this work because as they were reporting on what was happening to everyone here that’s what was happening to them,” Ellis said.

BPR serves 14 mountain counties with an operating budget around $4 million.

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Ellis said the order puts local content at risk for rural communities in the area.

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