Sam Farr: “While the media may focus on NPR, the federal dollars being targeted by this awful bill now go directly to local public…”

“While the media may focus on NPR, the federal dollars being targeted by this awful bill now go directly to local public radio stations, not to NPR. The federal dollars received make up a small percentage of the budget for larger stations, but these dollars represent a significant percentage of budgets for local public radio stations, like KAZU and KUSP in my district. It's important to note that stations are then able to leverage those federal grants into millions of dollars in donations from listeners, corporate supporters and foundations. That's the definition of a good federal investment. Those federal grants enable our local public radio stations to do in- depth stories on local issues important to our region--our world famous tourism events like the AT&T Pebble Beach golf tournament, the Monterey Jazz and Pops festivals, our multi-billion dollar agriculture industry or the budget crisis in California. Unlike commercial media, local public radio employees have only one concern--to serve their audience. Public broadcasting gives voices to the smallest and most diverse communities in our country that are overlooked by commercial broadcast radio. These are the voices that will be lost if H.R. 1076 is enacted. H.R. 1076 is an ideological attack on public broadcasting masquerading as a fiscal issue.…”