Control room during the production of “Homework Hotline” which is a Vegas PBS program where two math teachers Andrew Lenselink of Valley High and Andrew Sullivan of Johnson Junior High help kids live on TV with their homework Wednesday, September 24, 2014.
Saturday, March 17, 2018 | 2 a.m.
In a recently proposed budget, the Trump administration suggested it might cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the 50-year-old American nonprofit that provides much of the operating capital needed by PBS’s 350-plus member stations, like our own Vegas PBS. (Though according to a source at the channel, local federal matching grants earned by Vegas PBS through CPB equal only 59 cents per person per year—about 9% of the channel's budget. Still, that's not an inconsequential amount.) “Defunding Big Bird” is practically a Washington meme; many other politicians have limited funds to (or outright tried to shut down) CPB, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. But it continues on—and according to Margaret Ann Schneweis, membership manager for Vegas PBS, it will continue on in Las Vegas even if the unthinkable happens—thanks, naturally, to members like you.
“Our March fundraising campaign is a month long, and our goal is less than a quarter-million dollars. We’re on track to make that goal,” Schneweis said. “We’ve got our 50th year coming up, and we’ve always enjoyed strong community support.”
And, Schneweis added, it’s perhaps too soon to write off that federal money.
“Our general manager, Tom Axtell, was just in Washington, D.C., last week, and while he was there, he got strong support from all the Nevada delegation. We’re disappointed with the president’s recommendation, but we do have the strong bipartisan support of Congress.”
Just in case: That March fundraising drive is still in full swing, and you can contribute at vegaspbs.org.
This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.
