An Alaska fund has raised $3.5 million as it seeks to replace federal funding rescinded by Congress for public radio and television stations.

Amid fundraising efforts, station leaders say they are already beginning to cut some programming.

At the request of President Donald Trump, Congress in July voted to rescind $1 billion in federal funding for public media across the country. Trump and other Republicans contended that public radio and television stations are biased and should not receive public funding.

Two of Alaska's three-member congressional delegation voted in favor of the rescission, which eliminated roughly $15 million intended for more than two dozen stations in Alaska.

Alaska's U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich voted for the rescission, siding with most of their GOP colleagues. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of a few Republicans in Congress who attempted to salvage the federal funding that Congress members themselves had approved last year, pointing to its importance in alerting Alaskans to natural hazards like tsunamis, earthquakes and fires.

In a recent call hosted by a coalition of Alaska public radio and television stations, PBS President Paula Kerger said that Alaska is at the forefront of national fundraising efforts intended to — at least temporarily — supplant federal funding with money from private donors and foundations.

"Alaska was really at the center of so much of the discussions that we had through this period," Kerger said on the Tuesday call. "There is a lot of focus on Alaska. Everyone is aware that both the public television and public radio stations in the state are of profound importance."

Kerger said she was "deeply grateful to Sen. Murkowski, who really fought for us more than any other member of Congress."

Alaska stations banded together in the days following the July rescission vote to, with the Alaska Community Foundation, establish the Voices Across Alaska Fund, which in its first two months raised more than $3.5 million.

The funds came from 80 donors, which include individuals, corporations and foundations in Alaska and in the Lower 48, according to Alaska Community Foundation spokesperson Ashley Ellingson. The funds will be disbursed to stations beginning next month based on stations' needs, Ellingson said.

Even prior to the rescission, many Alaska radio stations relied heavily on annual fundraising drives to round out their budgets. But Alaska Public Media President Ed Ulman said that since the rescission, new donors have begun giving, or existing donors have upped their contributions.

"We're pretty confident in looking at our numbers that about 70% of what we've raised during this short period of time is new funding that's sustainable," said Ulman.

Those funds will be distributed to Alaska stations, which are also independently fundraising, several station managers said in recent days. Even as they have pivoted to fundraising efforts, the station managers reported making several targeted cuts to their programming in response to the loss of federal funding.

Alaska Public Media, the state's largest public station, has paused Alaska Insight, a television news program that was broadcast across the state. Ulman said Alaska Public Media has also cut its education programming and is considering cutting Debate for the State, a program that features candidate forums for statewide offices.

"Unfortunately, that work will not continue until we can find the dollars to do that," said Ulman.

Ulman said Alaska Public Media has already raised roughly half the federal funding it lost through direct donations to the station.

Ulman said that in addition to the $1.5 million in federal funding lost by Alaska Public Media, roughly $500,000 for a new initiative called the Alaska Desk may be at risk. The Alaska Desk was launched last year to boost news coverage in rural Alaska.

Gretchen Gordon, general manager of KUAC, a station serving Interior Alaska, said the station has cut overnight broadcasting, eliminated some national radio programs and lost television service in Nenana in response to the federal funding cut.

Gordon said KUAC is "determined to find ways to restore lost programs and services."

Kristin Hall, general manager at KYUK, which serves Bethel and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, said the station lost $1.2 million in federal funding, and could eliminate over half its staff by the end of the calendar year.

Justin Shoman, president and general manager of KTOO, said the Juneau-based station may need to adjust its coverage of the Legislature. Gavel Alaska, a live-streaming service for legislative hearings, press conferences and trial hearings, costs over $1 million annually to run and receives no state funding, Shoman said. Until the rescission, federal funding made up more than a third of KTOO's annual budget.

Already, the loss of federal funding has impacted Gavel Alaska. During a special legislative session in August, KTOO's temporary staff was furloughed, meaning there was no one to provide captioning to the live broadcast. KTOO has also eliminated two positions since the rescission and implemented a hiring freeze.

"Based on our geographic limitations, it's going to be very difficult for us to make up that full $1.2 million," Shoman said. However, he said the station has already raised over $400,000 from Juneau community members since July.

The federal funding cut comes after a yearslong refusal by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to spend state dollars on public media. Starting in his first year as governor, he repeatedly vetoed funding intended for public radio stations. This year, the Legislature did not fund the grants for public radio in the budget.

In rural Alaska, where fundraising is not a viable avenue for sustaining radio stations, "one of the keys" to ensuring sustainable service "has to be state funding being returned," Ulman said.

"It's not lost on many of us that the Legislature has every single year put in funding, in particular for rural public radio," said Ulman. "And yet, there is one individual who has the power of the veto who exercises that veto and goes against — I'm just going to say it — the will of the people."

When Begich, Alaska's lone U.S. House member, voted in June to claw back federal funding for public media, he reasoned that public broadcasting was no longer essential because Alaskans now use "pervasive cellular, satellite, and wireline technologies."

But Gordon, with KUAC, said many Interior residents do not have access to broadband internet, and "the only way that they can get us is by turning us on over the air."

"Our lawmakers need to understand that a little better," she said.

When Sullivan voted in favor of the rescission, he said he had worked with members of the Trump administration to secure an alternate source of funding for some stations that serve Alaska Native people.

Two months later, Kerger, with PBS, said the funding is set to come from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but she doesn't have details on the amount available and how it will be allocated.

"It feels like it's real, but with everything else, I think we need to make sure that those promises are kept," said Kerger.

Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne said Friday that "specifics on distribution and communication to stations are still being finalized."

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