Chapel Hill’s WUNC is tapping reserves and WFDD in Winston-Salem is cutting costs as two of North Carolina’s largest public radio stations brace for the possible loss of federal funding that would compound financial difficulties.
WUNC plans to draw $1.4 million in reserves in the fiscal year starting this week. The station has record income and revenue last year, but not enough to counter rising costs, according to Paul Allen Hunton, the station’s president and general manager. At WFDD, which is projecting an operating deficit of just shy of $60,000 over the next 12 months, GM Tom Dollenmayer said additional cuts in vendors, programs and services and a delay in filling vacant positions have averted staff layoffs.
“Our goal has been to make cuts where the audience was least likely to notice, preserving the public service that our listeners rely on,” Dollenmayer said in a recent email. Hunton added that tapping reserves recognizes that “while we’re seeing growth, it may not yet be moving fast enough to fully offset rising costs.”
Neither WUNC or WFDD is facing the financial pressure of its Charlotte counterpart. WFAE warned listeners last month it’s headed for a $1 million operating deficit this fiscal year as a drop in local giving compounds the potential elimination of federal funding.
“WFAE is staring down a $1 million shortfall as we enter the new fiscal year,” Mike Collins, host of the station’s “Charlotte Talks” show, said in an email to listeners last Thursday. “That’s not a scare tactic — it’s our reality.”
“We can point to political and economic uncertainty, impacts of inflation and even the natural disasters that have constrained philanthropy for that decline,” WFAE financial chief Dave Handy said in a separate email, “but it doesn’t change that we are operating with a large financial loss caused by this shortfall.”
Nationally, public radio stations are bracing for the possible elimination of federal funding, spurred by President Donald Trump’s desire to end taxpayer support of what he views as news coverage biased against conservative viewpoints.
The U.S. Senate is considering legislation passed last month by the House of Representatives that eliminates the next two years of federal funding for public media outlets. At risk is $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes nearly all of the funds to local television and radio stations, for the next two fiscal years.
CPB is suing the Trump administration of its efforts to exert control over its board. CPB, the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio criticized the House vote, urging the Senate to stop the legislation.
“The proposed federal rescission adds further risk to long-term planning,” Hunton said in an email.
“WUNC’s financial picture is shaped by both intentional cash reserve investment and broader market pressures,” Hunton said. Over the past two years, the station has spent some reserves to grow audience engagement and launch new content initiatives, such as “The Broadside” podcast and the daily program “Due South.” It’s also spent on a new digital fundraising strategy with NextAfter, a nonprofit fundraising agency.
Offsetting stronger audience engagement year over year and record income and revenue in fiscal 2025 are programming fees from NPR that have risen 27% over the past three years, according to Hunton.
“Underwriting has declined for two consecutive years, and investment income remains unpredictable due to ongoing economic uncertainty,” he said. “We’re working to close the gap through increased major giving, a 50th anniversary campaign to bolster our quasi-endowment, and expanded philanthropic partnerships.”
Focused on long-term sustainability, WUNC is “aiming for a balanced budget” next fiscal year, he said.
