The cutbacks took effect last fall and have had a variety of impacts on local stations across the country, as well as the national PBS and NPR operations. Some stations have laid off staffers and cut back on programming.
But the networks have remained on the air, despite Trump’s remark in January that “they’re sort of gone now, I guess, I heard they closed up. They were terrible.”
Stations didn’t actually close, but it did hurt.
Trump’s Move to End Federal Funding for NPR and PBS Was Unconstitutional, Judge Rules | Chicago News | WTTW https://news.wttw.com/2026/03/31/judge-blocks-trump-order-end-funding-national-public-radio-and-public-broadcasting