The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to cut funding for NPR. According to the Associated Press, the effort of the GOP-controlled house is not expected to be approved by the Democrat-led Senate. Even if it does, the White House says President Obama would veto the action. But WRVO's general manager says he's still worried about funding cuts.
The measure passed today -- if it were to become law -- would cut all federal funding to National Public Radio. It would also prevent local stations from using federal funds to pay NPR for dues, programming or any other fees charged by the network.
Dr. Michael S. Ameigh, GM of Oswego-based WRVO, spoke with Syracuse ABC television affiliate NewsChannel 9 today. He says funding cuts would affect not only programming, but the very infrastructure that allows WRVO to share locally-produced programming with other public radio stations across upstate New York.
WRVO's primary signal from Oswego can be heard across Central New York via a number of repeaters including WRVN/Utica, WRVD/Syracuse, WSUC/Cortland and WRVJ/Watertown.
On a related note, WRVO would normally be conducting a pledge drive right now, but listeners may have noticed that's not the case. Instead, the station is gearing up for "Thousand Member Thursday." The station is hoping to receive pledges from at least a thousand listeners on Thursday, March 24.