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I haven’t heard much comment about Congress slashing the funding for public radio stations across America. It’s been something Republicans have wanted to accomplish for decades.

CPB – the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – the organization through which federal funding was dispersed to public radio and television stations shut down at the end of September.

“The average public radio station in the US gets less than 13% of its budget from the federal government. For many coastal and big-city stations, it is an even smaller portion. But at small town and rural stations, where donor bases are less robust, that number can climb above 50%.” (The Guardian)

And for THIS STATION, that can literally mean life or death for the community it serves.

These rural radio stations provide vital weather and emergency information that cannot be accessed in any other way. They are a critical lifeline to what’s beyond the horizon and the only early warning system these little villages have.

It’s interesting that a tiny Alaskan Inuit coastal community suffered devastating losses from a recent storm surge associated with a typhoon. Houses, businesses, a people’s history, literally washed away forever. The town has now been evacuated. It’s not known when, or if, residents may be able to return and rebuild.

I’ve wondered if they had advance notice of what was coming or if, due to these government cut-backs, they were left blind and helpless, at the mercy of the unseen storm racing their way.