Eugene’s KRVM-FM confronts six-figure loss after federal funding rollback

KRVM-FM, a Eugene community radio station and the first FM station in the Pacific Northwest, saw about 20% of its annual funding cut after Congress rescinded funds for public broadcasting earlier this month.

The station is one of 1,300 local public radio and television stations that lost Community Service Grant funding after lawmakers rolled back allocated funds for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, along with national networks like NPR and PBS. KRVM staff are now turning to listeners to help fill a $186,784 deficit and keep its signal on the air.

Eugene School District 4J owns KRVM’s license and studio, which is tucked behind Sheldon High School, but the station receives no district funding. The other 80% of KRVM’s funding comes from listener memberships and sponsored programming. KRVM’s total budget for fiscal year 2026 is about $836,000. 

“We have relied on this funding for a very long time, and it’s no longer there,” KRVM station manager Stu Grenfell said. “We need people to step up and become members that have been listening and have never been a contributor. We need you now.”

What’s at stake

The station used its federal funds for core operating costs like tower site leases, equipment, power and engineering — and to operate its six transmitters, which extend its signal to Oakridge, Florence and Reedsport. Those areas will be the first to lose service if the station can’t replace the funding, Grenfell said. 

Rural communities often depend on public radio because commercial stations don’t always serve areas with small populations. He said this is the case in Oakridge, which sits in the foothills of the Cascades and often receives only KRVM’s signal.

These stations can be the only source of life-saving information for rural listeners during emergencies. During the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020, which burned more than 173,000 acres in the McKenzie River Valley and caused mass internet and cell service outages, one station volunteer heard she had to evacuate her home from KRVM’s emergency broadcasts, Grenfell said.

“We broadcast 120 alerts in the first two weeks of that, for evacuations or to get ready, or just the basic stuff,” Grenfell said. “The word had to get out. It was the only way people were getting it.”

How does KRVM stack up to other local public radio?

Unlike KLCC, another public radio station in Eugene, KRVM is not an NPR affiliate. KRVM doesn’t air nationally produced news segments like “Morning Edition” or “All Things Considered.” Instead, it broadcasts only music, all programmed locally by staff and volunteers. 

“Everything you hear on the air here, a decision was made in this building by a staff or a volunteer to put it on the radio,” Grenfell said.

KLCC also faces a budget shortfall of about $300,000 — about 10% — due to the federal funding rollback. The classical music station KWAX — which is also not an NPR affiliate but receives CPB grant funding — faces a 15% gap, or about $100,000.

In fiscal year 2023, CPB grants made up 6% of the average public radio station’s revenue nationwide, according to the corporation. Stations on rural and indigenous lands rely more heavily on federal dollars: Grant money makes up more than 60% of the budget for KCUW in Pendleton, which is owned by Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. 

The people behind the tunes

Beyond preserving its main 91.9 FM signal in Eugene, the station’s other priority is maintaining its student-run programming. Sheldon High School students can take a vocational elective class to work in teams and host about five hours of programming each school day.

Lauren Young, a rising junior who is working at KRVM for the first time, said she is disheartened by the loss of federal support but hopeful that the station will stay afloat. 

“It’s not just about radio,” Young said. “Obviously, that’s what we do, and we care about that. But also bringing students into the program teaches them a lot more than just that.”

More than 30 unpaid volunteers also help fill KRVM’s airwaves with music. Some of them have been working at the station for more than 20 years — the oldest of them is 84, Grenfell said.

Paul Schwartzberg has hosted his rock ’n’ roll show, “Greaser’s Garage,” for a decade. He said KRVM gives voice to music that commercial stations don’t, from wild rockabilly to ’60s garage music to ’70s punk.

“Shows like mine, or shows like all the other volunteers’, they don’t exist at commercial stations,” Schwartzberg said. “They exist at public stations around the country, though. But if those stations can’t continue, then what is left for the public?”

What happens now?

Fewer than 10% of KRVM listeners currently donate to the station, Grenfell said. If that number grew to 15%, it would cover the entirety of the rescinded public broadcasting funds. He said that means signing up about 900 people for an annual or monthly donation.

In the meantime, Grenfell said planned station improvements, like modernizing studio software still running on Windows XP, and efforts to build a new broadcast booth in Blanton Heights are now “off the table.”

Station staff and volunteers alike have been vocal about KRVM’s financial need since Congress rolled back its funding. Grenfell said hosts mentioned the issue on-air a couple of times an hour last week. The station also mailed flyers to members to spread the word. 

Listeners are responding: The station’s summer fundraising drive, which ended Sunday, July 27, brought in more than 100 new members and raised $35,000 more than last year’s campaign.

He said KRVM has not yet heard concerns from listeners in Oakridge, Florence and Reedsport about the potential loss of service, but membership in all three of the outlying translator frequency areas has recently “stepped up.” 

Grenfell hopes the momentum will continue, though he expects listener support to drop off now that the station isn’t dedicating as much time to the issue on-air. 

“We want to keep all the services on the air that we can,” Grenfell said. “We don’t want to turn anything off.”