FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2025
Media Contact: Heather Hare
VP, Marketing & Creative Services
(716) 845.7155 • hhare@wned.org
BTPM Urges Congress to Safeguard the Future of Public Media
Legislative changes and executive orders are making headlines almost daily, some of which could impact the future of public media stations like Buffalo Toronto Public Media (BTPM). Nationally, Protect My Public Media is a leading grassroots advocacy campaign focused on preserving essential federal funding for public media stations across the country and right now it is needed more than ever. And locally, BTPM is fanning out across Western New York on Thursday, March 6, to meet with our community members where they live and ask them to let Congress know public media is important to them.
Comprised of three television stations (WNED PBS, WNED Create, and PBS KIDS), four radio stations (WBFO, WNED Classical, WBFO The Bridge, and BTPM Radio Bilingüe), and digital platforms such as wned.org and the BTPM YouTube channel, BTPM is dedicated to preserving truly local media. We provide no-cost, commercial-free, local, non-profit service to every American community. Public media is also an important part of emergency communications, providing essential information on our radio and television stations but also providing access to our signal for local, state, and national government agencies to alert the community about emergencies through short warnings to cell phones.
Federal funding for public media represents a mere one-hundredth of one percent of the national budget. For about $1.60 per American per year federal funding ensures that stations like Buffalo Toronto Public Media can continue to serve essential educational, local, and cultural programming; trustworthy, in-depth news; and emergency and community-based services.
Meet Buffalo Toronto Public Media staffers on Thursday, March 6, in libraries, coffee shops, bookstores, and other businesses in Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Genessee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. Staffers will share information about how to contact representatives in D.C. and give away stickers, buttons, lawn signs, and other swag to help spread the word. Find a list of locations and times on our website: wned.org/community/protect-my-public-media.
If WNYers can’t visit our locations on Thursday, March 6, information about how to contact Congress to tell them the importance of public media is available at protectmypublicmedia.org.
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About Buffalo Toronto Public Media
Buffalo Toronto Public Media engages with our communities through exploration and entertainment –everywhere. Our member-supported services include WNED PBS, WBFO (NPR) (88.7 in Buffalo, 91.3 in Olean, 88.1 in Jamestown), WNED Classical (94.5 in Buffalo, 89.7 WNJA in Jamestown), WBFO The Bridge (88.7 HD2 and 94.5 HD2 in Buffalo), Radio Bilingüe (88.7 HD3), WNED Create, and WNED PBS KIDS. WNED PBS is also a national producer of award-winning documentaries. Additional information about Buffalo Toronto Public Media can be found at wned.org.