Not just Big Bird: What to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations, and programs such as Sesame Street and Finding Your Roots, announced Friday it would shut down after the U.S. government removed its funding.

The organization told staff most positions will end with the fiscal year on September 30. A small transition team will remain until January.

The private nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 after Congress authorized its formation. It now comes to an end after almost six decades of fueling the production of celebrated educational programming, cultural content, and emergency alerts about natural disasters.

President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24, canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House claims the public media system is politically biased, and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their anger at NPR and PBS.

Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned that some stations will have to close.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill.

Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967. This came several years after Newton Minow, the then-Federal Communications Commission chair, described commercial television as a “vast wasteland” and called for programming in the public interest.

The corporation doesn’t produce programming, and it doesn’t own, operate, or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, and NPR are independent of each other, as are local public television and radio stations.

Roughly 70 percent of the corporation’s money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it’s likely some won’t survive. NPR’s president estimated that as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the following year.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children’s programming such as ‘Caillou’ and ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ 24 hours a day.

Maine’s public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12 percent of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state’s rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts.

In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22 percent from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.

‘Sesame Street’ initially aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults, and guest stars alike were instantly hooked. Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites.

Entertainer Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode.