KCPT reacts amid withdrawal of federal funding for PBS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - President Donald Trump signed off on more funding cuts, this time affecting National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

The announced cuts would greatly affect Kansas City’s NPR radio station, KCUR, as well as Kansas City’s PBS television station, KCPT.

“The worry for me would be we might be able to figure out what we’re doing in Kansas City and tighten our belt and all that, but then the problem is would we still get Masterpiece Theater and American Experience and the News Hour?” Kansas City PBS CEO Kliff Kuehl asked. ”Because some of that CPB funding goes to creation of those shows."

The half-a-billion-dollar funding cuts across the country follow Trump’s executive order, signed while claiming bias in reporting.

PBS’s most popular and iconic shows include Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Antiques Roadshow.

PBS president and CEO Paul Kerger, as well as the president and CEO of The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, released statements Friday morning condemning Trump’s announcement.

Sitting right next to the KCTV5 tower, KCPT, near 31st and Main, has been broadcasting in Kansas City, Missouri, for more than 50 years, since January 1972.

Dozens of Kansas mail carriers rally in Lenexa to garner support

Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.