Why NPR Can't Give Up Government Funding?

 Well....here's the simple truth.  Their budget each year....from the federal government side....amounts to about half-a-percent to one-percent of their budget.  On this alone....they could give it entirely up.

But here's two odd things which are never discussed.  First, around 2-to-3 percent of the remaining budget comes from state budgets and local city budgets.  If the fed guys left the table, and then a dozen states realized that they could also leave the table....then you'd have two percent minimum missing from the budget.

Second...through various other fund vehicles....state public channels are funded by the federal machine and the states.  

For example, from the state of Tennessee....there are 11 public radio stations.

For example, from the state of Kentucky, there are 12 public radio stations.

NPR does a word game where they make it think that it's really not that much that comes from the federal government.  On these state contributions....it's possible that some or even half of their budget to the local stations....really come from a grant or two....from the federal government.

If the funding was drastically cut?  You'd have people all bothered that their favorite network was cut, but it wouldn't really be the end of the world....because NPR is mostly news, and you get everything from your commercial networks.  It'd be different if NPR was literature, poetry, jazz or classical music (what they started out as, you know).