Musicians brace for impact as Senate vote on public radio looms; The Washington Post, July 15, 2025

Ethan Beck, The Washington Post; Musicians brace for impact as Senate vote on public radio looms

"For the more than 1,000 public radio stations that play independent music, Boilen says the bill is an existential threat...

“All stations would be in trouble of not being able to play music,” NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher said. The CPB spends nearly $20 million on licensing most years, covering an expense Maher said would be impossible for most stations to afford. “Regardless of how big you are, even the largest station in the NPR network and in public radio still operates on a budget of less than $100 million a year.”

Licensing isn’t the only thing threatened by the rescission bill, which also retracts funding from foreign aid programs such as global AIDS prevention and other public media such as PBS."