Wait, wait…don’t tell me NPR is over

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My grade school weekends consisted of waking up at the crack of dawn, hopping in the backseat of my dad’s Volkswagen Touareg and listening to Bill Kurtis and Peter Sagal exchange clever quips on the way to a hockey game miles away. 

National Public Radio’s hosts spoke about topics I was unaware of, yet their voice and passion made 8-year-old me want to listen and learn about the world I was growing up in. 

I am one of many “Backseat Babies.”

A Backseat Baby is the term affectionately used to refer to NPR listeners that were introduced to the station through their parents while sitting in the backseat of the car.

On March 26, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. called Katherine Maher, the Chief Executive Officer of NPR, to a hearing in front of the Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee to ask about the station’s content. Greene claimed that NPR has become a radical, left-wing echo chamber for an audience of primarily white, elites who criticize rural Americans. She used the supposed leftist indoctrination of Americans to strike at NPR and emphasized the notion that our tax dollars are being misused by funding media organizations that contradict the agenda of President Donald Trump.

On April 15, Trump introduced a bill to Congress that would cut nearly all the funding to both NPR and Public Broadcasting Service. On May 1, DOGE ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease all taxpayer funding to NPR and PBS.

Around 18% of the 1,000 stations would close, cutting 30% of listeners off from NPR programming. This threat is very real and close to home, since Michigan Public, the state’s flagship NPR station, is at risk of losing substantial funding. 

As backseat babies, it is our job to protect and stake a claim to the station that we grew up with. We must take action to keep NPR alive and ensure that Michigan Public can continue as not only an Ann Arbor staple, but also a statewide source of culture and news. 

Michigan Public has served the Ann Arbor community for over 75 years. They have not only provided Ann Arbor and the surrounding area with a free outlet for news, but also live recordings of popular shows like “The Moth.” The loss of Michigan Public would be the end of a universal staple, as local radio stations bring communities closer together. By allowing local stories to flourish, communities have an opportunity to learn more about their neighborhoods while also staying on top of national and international news. 

The loss of this unique resource would be a disservice to journalism and small communities.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Wendy Turner, the executive director and general manager of Michigan Public, spoke about the importance of Michigan Public and NPR. 

“We are a source of free local news, which is harder and harder to find,” Turner said. “We have been here for more than 75 years as a source of trustworthy and knowledgeable observers of Ann Arbor, of the University, and we are valued by the community for our commitment to showcase what’s happening.”

Despite the threat, Turner is hopeful that direct collaboration between the University of Michigan and Michigan Public will raise awareness about the threats facing public broadcasting today. This starts with breaking down classic NPR stereotypes: A bureaucratic and intellectual source of news that only attracts a largely educated audience, which just so happens to be left-leaning. Turner is actively working to combat the stigma surrounding intellectualism and NPR.

There is still work to be done. According to Turner, Michigan Public can be doing more to widen its audience.

“I think that we are not doing as good a job as we could in helping the University students be aware of the resource that Michigan Public is,” Turner said. “Students have so many things to be worried and concerned about right now, but I wish they knew more about it, and part of that is on us to do a better job.”

The Michigan Public radio booth at Festifall is just the tip of the iceberg. Michigan Public takes its student internship program as a way to both cultivate passionate student journalists and to inform the next generation of public radio listeners about the treasures that lie within a broadcasting studio. They’re looking to foster listener engagement beyond the Tiny Desk watcher.

Some may say that NPR and public broadcasting are a dated tradition — making them a waste of American tax dollars. With the chokehold podcasts have on American news, there is no need to fund programs with decreasing audiences. Since 2020, NPR’s audience has been reduced by 28%, and 24% of Americans support defunding the programs. 

Although the prominence of radio has decreased significantly, NPR and public broadcasting’s listeners are just as passionate about their coveted stations as the journalists who work there. In an email from Turner in the Michigan Public newsletter, she stated that Michigan Public receives only $560,000 per year from the federal government. If that doesn’t seem like a lot to run statewide, it’s because it isn’t. 

The saying “supported by listeners like you” is not just a clever tagline; it’s the truth. Without listeners introducing their friends to radio programs to support funding, many of us are afraid that NPR might go extinct. This is why federal funding is crucial to NPR’s survival.

“The threat to federal funding is not just a threat to us at Michigan Public,” said Turner. “It is a threat to the fabric of the network that together creates this invaluable, national service.” She added, “As much as I care about what happens here, I care very deeply about what happens to the institution of public media across the country.”

As students in the University community, we must continue to spread the word about the importance of preserving NPR and MPR and the vital relationship between listener and show that has been established over the past 70-plus years. We have all been long-time listeners, so to backseat babies, it is more important now than ever to be a first-time caller.

William Folbe is an Opinion Analyst from Birmingham, Michigan. He can be reached at wfolbe@umich.edu.

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