EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a message from WVIA President & CEO Carla McCabe.
Dear WVIA supporters,
For nearly 60 years, WVIA has delivered relevant, balanced and in-depth programing, including award-winning locally produced documentaries, performances, news and public affairs programs across TV, radio and digital platforms.
That’s why I strongly urge Congress to reject destructive proposals to rescind, cut or eliminate public media funding. Such cuts would leave many northeast and central Pennsylvania residents, especially those in our rural areas, without the critical services local public television stations provide, from life-saving public safety services to proven education resources to essential local journalism.
For about $1.60 per American per year – and less than .01% of the federal budget – the federal investment in public broadcasting allows local stations, including WVIA, to provide critical services through public safety partnerships, trusted educational services and homegrown programming.
Public safety role
As one of the last locally owned media companies in the region, WVIA provides lifesaving public safety communications and services in partnership with federal, state and local authorities. This includes traditional alert and emergency warnings in communities that may have no other local broadcasters, to cutting-edge technology that helps first responders communicate with each other over the broadcast spectrum. Cuts to public broadcasting funding would significantly jeopardize public safety across our region and the rest of the country.
Critical education resources
For almost 60 years, WVIA’s educational programming for young children, the hallmark of public television, has supported families with proven educational tools. This free, universally available content has been demonstrated to close the achievement gap between children of all income levels.
WVIA provides critical education resources for 3-to-4-year-olds in the region who do NOT attend preschool. In 2024, WVIA Education engaged over 95,000 students through partnerships with local school districts, including early childhood education classroom visits and resources and vital career readiness resources for 5th through 12th graders.
News, public affairs, local stories
WVIA produces and broadcasts programs about people, places and events in our region, like the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and the Challenger Exhibition Game at the Little League World Series. To engage our audience, WVIA also presents a local public affairs series, Keystone Edition, focusing on news, arts, health and business.
As legacy local news coverage diminished, WVIA began providing essential community news three years ago to our 22-county region. Vital in-depth, fact-based journalism guides the news team on beats, including rural government, environment, politics, arts and culture, education and healthcare. Reaching people in the communities we serve continues to drive the news on digital, radio and TV.
Trusted and irreplaceable
Public television has been ranked the most trusted institution for 22 years, with 76% of Americans agreeing that public television provides an excellent value to communities.
That trust is bipartisan in nature: Across the political spectrum, 65% of people who voted for President Trump think public television is either adequately funded or underfunded, according to a recent YouGov survey.
Such bipartisan support has been consistently reflected in Congress, which approved funding for public media just a few weeks ago in the final fiscal year 2025 funding bill.
I urge Congress to reject any rescission of funds for public media and to continue supporting WVIA’s ability to provide essential services to northeast and central Pennsylvania.
Federal funding for WVIA is irreplaceable and essential to public media as a whole.
Respectfully yours,
Carla McCabe