GREAT FALLS — Montana Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) estimates it will sustain a $1.8 million budget cut, which is nearly a 20% direct cut to the program with the Rescissions Act of 2025 on President Donald Trump’s desk.
Montana Public Radio is expecting an 11% cut to its programs, which would equate to about $353,000.
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“We’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and I think start tightening our belts a little bit, but I’m hoping that we can continue to provide the fabulous service that our listeners of Montana Public Radio depend on," Montana Public Radio General Manager Anne Hosler said.
Montana PBS Director and General Manager Aaron Pruitt says that this could also affect Montana PBS’s programming, from Sesame Street to Ken Burns documentaries, which promote learning no matter your age.
“Nowhere else. No one else produces that kind of content," Pruitt said.
Pruitt says that Montana PBS is watched by more than 250,000 Montanans each week, with 30,000 of them being children. Hosler estimates that Montana Public Radio receives 70,000 to 80,000 listeners a week.
“We think we've had a particularly important role in serving the public, with uninterrupted programming that is not commercially driven, that is not there to raise a certain amount of money," Pruitt said. "It is there to be simply public service programming.”
“Today I voted to reduce waste and fraud in several federal programs so that Montanans’ taxpayer dollars are used effectively," Montana U.S. Senator Steve Daines said in a July 17 statement.
“It's time to put the pedal to the metal on restoring fiscal sanity and America First common sense. I proudly voted for this rescissions package to rein in reckless spending and protect Americans’ hard-earned money," US Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana said in a statement to MTN.
However, Pruitt says he doesn’t see the waste.
“I think public television and public, and PBS has been one of the most efficient private public partnerships you can imagine in this country, when we take $1.60 per American and we invest it and we invest it to leverage local support from communities across the nation to support their local public television station.”
Hosler says that, along with educational and music programs, they also provide safety.
“One thing that is really important that our service provides is emergency alerts. Terrestrial broadcast infrastructure is really resilient to natural disasters and things like that that we might experience.”
Pruitt encourages people to reach out to lawmakers to allocate funds for PBS in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“We will be doing everything we can possibly do here at Montana PBS to try to preserve this service," Pruitt said.
“I understand there's a need in Washington to address, you know, the deficit," Hosler noted. But I also — I hear from our listeners every day that this service matters to them.”
Ultimately, the future is still up in the air for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS.
“I'm very committed to the work that we do…We want to provide programs that represent the unique character of Montana; that's been our mission," Hosler said. "And I know all of our staff, this is not just a career for them or, or, you know, a job for them. They believe, in the work that we do, they, they see, they hear how it impacts communities.”
Both Pruitt and Hosler recommend checking out protectmypublicmedia.org to learn more about the importance of public radio and broadcast in the state and how you can help.
