GREAT FALLS — With the Rescissions Act of 2025 on President Trump’s desk, Montana Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) estimates it will sustain a $1.8 million budget cut, which is nearly a 20% direct cut to the program. Montana Public Radio is expecting an 11% cut to their program, which would equate to about $353,000.
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Anne Hosler, General Manager of Montana Public Radio, said, “We’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and I think start tightening our belts a little bit, but I’m hoping that we can continue to provide the fabulous service that our listeners of Montana Public Radio depend on.”
Director and General Manager of Montana PBS Aaron Pruitt says that this could also affect Montana PBS’ programming, from Sesame Street to Ken Burns documentaries, which promote learning no matter your age.
Pruitt said, “Nowhere else. No one else produces that kind of content.”
Pruitt says that Montana PBS is watched by more than 250k Montanans each week, with 30k of them being children. Hosler estimates that Montana Public Radio receives 70-80 thousand listeners a week.
Pruitt said, “We think we've had a particularly important role in serving the public, with uninterrupted programing that is not commercially driven, that is not there to raise a certain amount of money. It is there to be simply public service programing.”
In a statement on July 17, US Senator Steve Daines of Montana said, “Today I voted to reduce waste and fraud in several federal programs so that Montanans’ taxpayer dollars are used effectively.”
In a statement to MTN, US Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana said, “It's time to put the pedal to the metal on restoring fiscal sanity and America First common sense. I proudly voted for this rescissions package to rein in reckless spending and protect Americans’ hard-earned money.” However, Pruitt says he doesn’t see the waste.
Pruitt said, “I think public television and public, and PBS has been one of the most efficient private public partnerships you can imagine in this country, when we take $1.60 per American and we invest it and we invest it to leverage local support from communities across the nation to support their local public television station.”
Hosler says that, along with educational and music programs, they also provide safety.
Hosler said, “One thing that is really important that our, that our service provides is emergency alerts. Terrestrial broadcast infrastructure is, really resilient to natural disasters and things like that that, that we might experience.”
For Pruitt, he encourages people to reach out to lawmakers to allocate funds for pbs in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
Pruitt said, “We will be doing everything we can possibly do here at Montana PBS to try to preserve this service.”
Hosler said, “I understand there's a need in Washington to address, you know, the deficit. But I also, I hear from our listeners every day that this service matters to them.”
Ultimately, the future is still up in the air for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS.
Hosler said, “I'm very committed to the work that we do…We want to provide programs that represent the unique character of Montana that's been our mission. And I know all of our staff, this is not just a career for them or, or, you know, a job for them. They believe, in the work that we do, they, they see, they hear how it impacts communities.”
Both Pruitt and Hosler recommend checking out Protectmypublicmedia.org to learn more about the importance of public radio and broadcast in the state and how you can help.
