RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Congress has approved the Trump administration’s plan to clawback $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting(CPB).

The cuts will trickle down to local public radio stations, including Western North Carolina Window (WNCW) in Spindale and Blue Ridge Public Radio in downtown Asheville.

Both stations produce local news content with local reporters covering community issues.

WNCW has been operating on the Isothermal Community College campus, broadcasting for 36 years with 22 hours of music and live hosts a day.

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“We’re in this period of uncertainty now of what an eight percent or so loss will mean for us,” said Martin Anderson, WNCW’s music director. “It looks like our CPB funding for this year will be close to $160,000.”

Anderson said the radio station is dependable and acts as a community service with a long history of providing the western North Carolina region with information.

“We were formed in 1989 with a purpose of representing the culture of Western North Carolina specifically,” Anderson said. “We really noticed the importance our news and information plays in the region with Hurricane Helene. There were a lot of folks who were reliant on us.”

WNCW has 10 full-time staff and about 20 part-time staff, including some who produce their own shows. The station operates with a $2 million budget that comes largely from local listener donations.

“In the past, we lost our state funding from the state of North Carolina, that was closer to twenty percent. Our listeners were able to help make up for that,” Anderson said.

Anderson says asking local companies, businesses, and listeners to give more on top of what they already do will be a tough ask.

Ele Ellis, BPR’s CEO and general manager, also has a cost-cutting estimate.

“The cut will be $330,000,” Ellis said. “We’re actually hoping to raise the money rather than cut things.”

Ellis said BPR has a year to figure it out, with cuts not coming for another year.

Merry Guy, Republican Party Chair for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, knows the importance of public radio in western North Carolina. However, she says the cuts across the federal government must be made.

“Our government has overspent for so many years,” Guy said.

Guy feels that local stations will be able to ask local listeners to fill the void of federal cuts.

“I’m happy to see them take some steps to cut spending. I know this is a tough decision for folks to make,” Guy said.

At WNCW, Anderson feels the argument alleging public radio reporting has a liberal slant is false.

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“Our local news reflects the NPR mission, which is to deliver fair and balanced news and information,” Anderson said

Anderson says the CPB also handles music licensing for public radio stations and that stations will see impacts on their licensed music catalogue.

Anderson also says WCNW’s catalog could be limited with the cuts in funding, as they scramble to find an alternative resource for funding.

Anderson and other public radio station managers nationwide consider the cut in funding to be a serious concern, since the majority of hours on the radio are filled with music reflecting the communities they serve.