Here in Maine public media is thriving.
At Maine Public We just completed another exciting High School Basketball Championship Weekend on Maine Public Television, the new season of High School Quiz Show Maine begins on March 20, and a new season of Borealis premieres on April 4. Our Maine Public journalists and daily Maine Calling program continue to deliver the high-quality news and information that Mainers value more than ever.
Already this year we have launched five new FM stations in our rural radio expansion, which extended Maine Public Radio to Bethel and Millinocket and Maine Public Classical to Aroostook and Washington Counties. New signals in the Moosehead Lake region are due to launch soon.
Our network of Evergreen Friends (monthly supporters is strong), businesses sponsor our programming, folks from all over contribute during pledge drives. Thank you for your support and for your trust.
While all that is true, public media is under attack. The threat to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is real and one we all should be concerned with.
CPB receives an appropriation from Congress. This year, about 12% of Maine Public’s budget comes from CPB. Local stations like Maine Public leverage those federal dollars by raising 7-8 times as much at the local level, making public broadcasting one of the most successful public-private partnerships in the country.
CPB also funds infrastructure that we take for granted but keeps the system functioning, like interconnection, program delivery, and emergency alert capability. Defunding CPB would mean the end of public broadcasting as we know it.
One more reason public media in Maine is strong is because Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden all support public media. Senator Collins has been honored as a Champion of Public Broadcasting.
If public media is important to you then our elected officials need to hear from you. Please take a moment to visit https://lnkd.in/eyBGqq3Z a resource for contacting congressional offices. This site is about grass roots activism on behalf of local stations, not about fundraising.
“Protect My Public Media Day” is this Thursday March 6. Please take a moment to visit the site and consider speaking up on behalf of public media.
…and thanks.
#ProtectMyPublicMedia