SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota — South Dakota’s largest public broadcasting network faces a difficult few months ahead. Early Friday morning, the US House approved $9 billion in cuts, including funding for PBS.
Julie Overgaard, executive director of South Dakota Public Broadcasting, says the clock is ticking to find a solution.
“If we can’t either raise $2.2 million in less than three months, or there isn’t a remedy found we’re going to have to look at about a 20% to 25% reduction in force,” Overgaard told reporters. “Just devastated and really sad.”
Overgaard has been with SDPB for nearly four decades and says this is the biggest cut she has ever seen.
“It places everything on the table. It puts our entire coverage of high school activities on the table. It puts our coverage of the legislative session on the table,” Overgaard explained.
According to friends of SDPB CEO Ryan Howlett, the bill’s current language would eliminate all federal funding, which accounts for more than 20% of the organization’s total budget.
“It will be extremely difficult…” “I don’t look forward to it,” Howlett stated. “For the federal government to walk away from a commitment that they’ve held for 60 years in 75 days is really a shame.”
And for viewers, it may mean fewer stories are told.
“Part of what we do is tell South Dakota’s story and preserve history, which may now be lost. That’s what hurts so much,” Howlett explained.
“We intend to fight until the bitter end. To hopefully persuade our delegation, as well as others like me across the country, to do the same work,” Overgaard stated.
SDPB officials are hopeful that some of the funding will be restored in next year’s budget.
The federal cut comes after SDPB fought for state funding earlier this year, when former Governor Kristi Noem proposed cutting $3.6 million from the agency’s budget.
