Northwest Public Broadcasting halts KWSU-TV operations

A public television station founded 63 years ago on the campus of Washington State University will go dark at the end of the year.

KWSU-TV Pullman, operated jointly by WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communications and Northwest Public Broadcasting, will cease operations on Dec. 31 following recent budget cuts and the loss of federal funding.

The TV station, which is a secondary provider – meaning that it has smaller audiences and limited opportunity to show top-tier public broadcasting – served mostly the Palouse region. Most Washington viewers who have access to KSPS in Spokane will not lose programming as a result of the shutdown.

But the KWSU station, which was one of the earliest educational TV stations in the Northwest, was nonetheless an outlet that provided rural viewers a chance to access educational programming provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“These are tough times, to be sure,” said Bruce Pinkleton, the dean of WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. “Murrow’s work is more relevant today than it ever was. We are very appreciative of support from our donors and our loyal listeners, as well.”

The closure is part of a $1.8 million reduction to college and NPB operating costs.

The cuts likely will lead to employee reductions, but the reporters and content creators who operated KWSU recently voted to join the SAG-AFTRA union, which stands for the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

“We are busy navigating that process with them, as required by law,” Pinkleton said.

As a result, he could not say how many jobs may be affected.

The impending doom of the TV station began years ago.

“Journalism is an expensive operation,” Pinkleton said. “We were really building toward the future, and we incurred some debt. Then the donations didn’t keep up with costs.”

As result, the operations took a $1.6 million budget hit in 2023 and another $1.7 million reduction in 2024.

But the largest blow struck earlier this year when the U.S. Congress voted to rescind more than $1 billion of funding. That resulted in a $1.95 million cut to WSU and widespread cuts and cancellations of stations throughout the country.

Then a funny thing happened. Those people who have relied on public broadcasting opened their wallets, Pinkleton said.

“Two summers ago, we raised about $200,000. This past summer, we raised closer to $1 million. PBS audiences are enthusiastic supporters,” he said. “One major donor in particular gave us time to sit down, look at budgets and make some thoughtful decisions.

“WSU has been patient as we tried to work through this process.”

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., issued a statement Wednesday after learning of the pending closure of KWSU. She noted in a news release that the Palouse station’s closure announcement followed 17 layoffs from Cascade PBS in Seattle, which shut down on Oct. 1.

“At a time when we need more local journalism, now is not the time for short-sighted funding cuts that mean Washingtonians are going to lose vital sources of news and emergency information like KWSU-TV and at Cascade PBS,” Cantwell said in the release. “We must push back on this administration’s continued efforts to denigrate and weaken the free press and local journalism.”

Cantwell noted that more than 400 journalists and support staff have been laid off from public media organizations following cuts to federal funding.

While the closure of KWSU is pending, the college and Northwest Public Broadcasting will continue to operate radio stations that reach as many as 3.6 million listeners in 3.6 million people in “44 counties throughout Washington state and parts of Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia,” according to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

It will also continue to operate KTNW, which provides public television programming in the Tri-Cities.

“Northwest Public Broadcasting radio operations won’t be affected. They reach 80% of Washington by land,” Pinkleton said. “It’s important to us. It’s part of our land grant mission. We are the only provider of public broadcasting to some of the communities.”

WSU is one of 112 land-grant universities that are located in every state and the District of Columbia. Mostly public schools, they receive a mix of federal and state funding and are tasked with providing education in fields like agriculture, science and engineering.

The cuts and pending staff reductions should balance the budget moving forward, Pinkleton said. But the outlook remains grim.

“Frankly, I don’t expect the federal funding picture to return to where it was. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is just gone,” Pinkleton said. “That creates challenges for us.”

The school, as part of its mission, will continue to find ways to provide programming, he said.

“A lot of folks rely on public broadcasting. I speak as one of those listeners and viewers myself,” he said. “But to this point, we’ve done a good job, in my estimation, of protecting access to public broadcasting.”

This story has been updated to clarify the location of the counties KWSU broadcasts in the Northwest.