KCRW’s blueprint – After federal funding for public broadcasters was slashed under Trump-era policy and a 2025 rescissions law, KCRW in Los Angeles lost $1.3 million—cut staff and programming—but rebuilt its strategy around podcasts, newsletters, streaming, and a rapid expansion
In Los Angeles, the radio station that helped define people’s commutes is now fighting for something just as essential: staying present in their lives when the funding that once kept it afloat disappears.
Last May, President Trump signed an executive order taking federal funds away from public broadcasters. The document was dubbed “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.” Later that summer. Congress made the order a reality—or at least the “ending subsidization” part. The Rescissions Act of 2025 clawed back $1.1 billion (with a “b”) in funds already allocated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
With its federal financial support evaporating, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it was winding down operations. In the year that followed, layoffs and programming cuts spread across public media.
KCRW—an NPR member station in Los Angeles—faced the same blunt math as the broader industry. It lost $1.3 million in federal funds last year. That loss has translated into operational pain: layoffs and reductions across public media followed as federal support shrank.
Yet as the industry reels, KCRW has been building a different kind of momentum—less dependent on federal dollars and more rooted in how listeners find the station now.
Listenership has expanded across linear radio. streaming and podcasts. with millions of podcast downloads bringing fans from well beyond Los Angeles. KCRW’s financial pledge goal for this year is already well within reach. And the station is on track to finish 2026 with ad revenue and off-radio sponsorship—corporate support tied to nonbroadcast platforms—growing to more than 30% of overall sponsorship funding. creating a more diversified revenue mix.
KCRW’s president, Jennifer Ferro, frames the work bigger than broadcasting. “People will ask me, ‘Oh, how’s the radio business?’” Ferro says. “And I say I don’t know anything about the radio business. I’m in the community business.”
That community-first posture has reshaped KCRW’s playbook, especially in the years when audience habits changed faster than the station could rely on tradition.
Ferro began working at KCRW 32 years ago, starting as an assistant to the general manager. Back then. the station had roughly 30 staffers and a budget of a “pittance.” Today. headcount has grown to over 100 and the budget is $24 million. But the most significant shift at KCRW, Ferro says, has happened in just the past six years.
Before Trump put public media on his hit list last summer, COVID-19 had already disrupted how KCRW’s listeners engaged with it. Ferro describes Los Angeles before the pandemic: people were commuting in cars Monday through Friday during specific hours, and radio was the companion of that drive.
“Prior to COVID. everyone in Los Angeles was in their cars. driving to work Monday through Friday. during very specific hours. and the companion they had was radio. ” Ferro says. “It was the easiest, one-touch technology, and it made KCRW a big part of people’s commute experience. But now. that’s all been disrupted. whether people are coming into the office three days a week or not at all. and we saw this radical change in the way people listened.”.
As old routines broke apart. KCRW moved toward formats that could travel with audiences rather than depend on a particular time slot. The station recruited marquee podcast talent. invested heavily in newsletters. and expanded its music curation beyond radio through a redesigned app and 24/7 streaming playlists.
Around the time of the 2024 election. KCRW launched two new podcasts: Question Everything. an investigation of media distortions from the S-Town creator Brian Reed. and The Sam Sanders Show. a deep dive into pop culture with the NPR Politics Podcast cofounder. Both shows have been hits, each quickly surpassing 2 million downloads. Question Everything also won four Signal Awards and a 2026 Webby.
KCRW paired those audio pushes with newsletters built around the station’s themes rather than simple website promotion. It invested in highly curated music and culture newsletters for all its shows. One tied to Good Food follows host Evan Kleiman’s personal cooking journey. while the dedicated Substack Backseat Babies helps families navigate life in L.A.
Ferro says the newsletters are not just clicks for the website. “I’ll be honest—we don’t even care about our website,” Ferro says. “Which seems prescient, because with ‘Google Zero’ now, websites don’t seem to matter anymore.”
At the center of KCRW’s current growth, though, may be a shift that looks less like a digital pivot and more like an expansion of its role in everyday life: live events.
Over the past year and a half, KCRW expanded its live footprint to over 1,000 annual events. The expansion includes outdoor public series and intimate studio sessions. along with sponsored film and TV screenings. grub-related gatherings connected to Good Food. and partnerships with museums. cultural institutions. and local businesses across the city.
“We like being this fulcrum in the community, helping out these bars, restaurants and coffee shops that really kind of make a neighborhood a neighborhood,” Ferro says.
The station’s identity as a convener has been tested—and strengthened—by crisis. During the Southern California wildfires back in January 2025, Ferro says KCRW stepped up in a way that went beyond routine programming.
The fires lasted over three devastating weeks and left residents in two groups: those directly affected and needing help, and those not directly affected but desperate to help. Both groups were seeking reliable information, and KCRW filled that gap.
The broadcaster became a hub for civic information, a community organizer, and a cultural relief operation. KCRW created hyperlocal dedicated resource pages and kept them updated through the crisis and recovery period. It also put together KCRW Music Relief, offering targeted support for local musicians. KCRW collected and shared fan-made Love Letters to LA to bring positivity during a dark time.
Between disaster relief efforts and its expanded live-events slate over the past 18 months. KCRW has not only been reporting. guiding. or entertaining the community. It has been “load-bearing. ” as Ferro’s description of the station’s role suggests—part information center. part organizer. part cultural refuge.
The survival strategy, however, does not erase the damage that federal funding cuts caused. After the rescission, Ferro says the station assumed the money would not return.
“Once the rescission happened, we knew that money was never coming back,” Ferro says. “It was pretty one-to-one: We lost $1.3 million, and so we reduced our expenses by $1.3 million.”
The cost control reached the workforce. KCRW cut 10% of its staff last October, joining public media outlets incurring layoffs in the past year.
Nine months later, the station’s outlook at KCRW is already brighter. A recent 22% increase in membership and substantial growth in subscriber donations confirm the strategy is working.
The question now for public media is whether the path KCRW is walking can be shared beyond Los Angeles. Forging more intimate connections between programming and fans. broadening beyond radio. and partnering with brands and local venues for live events may offer a playbook for other public outlets trying to prove their indispensability.
Ferro sums up what the fight over public broadcasting has forced audiences to notice. “I think putting a target on public broadcasting last year reminded people how valuable it is to have these public resources in their lives.”
For KCRW, the federal funding loss was the shock. The rebuild—podcasts, newsletters, streaming, and more than 1,000 events a year—has been the response that keeps it close to the people it serves.
KCRW public media NPR member station federal funding cuts Rescissions Act of 2025 Corporation for Public Broadcasting podcasts newsletters streaming live events membership growth ad revenue off-radio sponsorship