CPB Announces Final Interconnection Grant As Shutdown Nears.

As the Corporation for Public Broadcasting winds down operations and prepares to dissolve, it has announced what will one of its final grants while urging public media leaders not to view the moment as an end, but as a turning point for the system’s future.

CPB President Patricia Harrison outlined plans to distribute more than $12 million in remaining interconnection funds directly to eligible stations, part of a final allocation designed to give stations flexibility to invest in distribution, technology and local service after CPB’s closure. In a memo to public radio colleagues, she also thanked partners including Public Media Infrastructure (PMI), NPR and PBS for their leadership in ensuring continuity of national distribution and supporting innovation at the local level.

“CPB has already made substantial interconnection investments at the national level —investments that will sustain nationwide public radio and television distribution,” Harrison says. “This final interconnection allocation builds on that foundation by giving stations the flexibility to invest directly in the technologies, services, and partnerships that best meet their local needs and evolving audience expectations.”

In her memo, Harrison also acknowledges that questions are likely to arise about how best to deploy the new direct allocations with CPB no longer there to help, noting that stations historically have not received interconnection support in this way. She instead points to PMI, NPR, PBS and other partners as still-available “thought partners” for stations as they plan investments that best serve their communities.

“In the long-term, preserving the interconnection system will require innovative and forward-looking solutions,” Harrison tells broadcasters. She adds that CPB sees putting its remaining dollars into interconnection funding as the best way for it to fulfill its mission of serving the entire public media system, and to “prepare the system for a rapidly evolving media environment.”

The news comes as the private nonprofit created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 moves closes to turning out its lights for good after nearly six decades of channeling federal funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations. Earlier this month, the board voted to dissolve the 58-year-old organization after Congress voted last July to rescind $1.1 billion in previously approved funding — fulfilling a Project 2025 objective.

Hopes that some funding would be restored, particularly for stations covering rural and tribal areas, were dashed last week. The House Rules Committee rejected an attempt by Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) to allocate $100 million for public media. Republican leadership last year had told Bacon that they would support restoring some funding for rural stations to secure his vote for the package of recissions.

At its monthly board meeting this month, CPB leadership said that although federal dollars had disappeared, public radio is “not going away.” Board Chair Ruby Calvert said she expects there will be “ongoing conversations” about the future of public media, as CPB’s impact on public broadcasting and local communities has been “profound.”

Other grants may also be announced in the coming days, with CPB executives saying this month that they were distributing money for the operational support of stations serving remote communities. Other grants will help stations strengthen digital services, and ensure CPB’s work is protected and archived for future generations.