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Budget Update: We need YOUR help!
March 30, 2015 Leave a Comment
We need YOUR help!
We need YOUR VOICE right now in support of public funding for public media. The current budget proposal includes a 34% reduction in state funding for the Educational Communications Board (ECB), the technical backbone of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), and the state’s ENTIRE emergency alert/AMBER alert systems (the system that triggers tornado alerts for all media statewide). Without emergency alert funding, your emergency communications system will be at risk.
ECB is also the home of the Wisconsin Media Lab, which creates, curates and disseminates K-12 classroom resources and educational materials statewide to more than 800,000 school kids each year, an irreplaceable service critical to classroom success. The state budget as proposed would undermine this service which is now available free of charge for public, private, charter and home school instruction year round.
Public Media Belongs to YOU! Use your voice!
Please call your legislators TODAY and tell them you value the services that can only be provided by Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), and ask them to restore State GPR (general purpose revenue) funding to ECB to protect and preserve these critical and valuable services.
Need help finding contact info for legislators? Visit legis.wisconsin.gov
If the budget cuts stand as proposed WPT and WPR will be forced to reduce staff, who assure the reliability of the network and the vital, educational engaging content you’ve come to rely on. Public media belongs to you – if you value the services only public media can provide, call or visit your legislators now, and ask them to restore State GPR funding of ECB and public media.
Public media was invented in Wisconsin nearly 100 years ago. We need your voice, and your support, to ensure we’ll be here 100 years from now, continuing to make Wisconsin a special place to live, work and play.
Sincerely,
Linda Prehn
President, Friends of Wisconsin Public Television
Dean Dietrich
President, Wisconsin Public Radio Association
Wisconsin Wisconsin Public Radio PBS public television Wisconsin Public Television Wisconsin Public Television
Mona Owens Beck says:
At least the Republican Legislature took some positive action yesterday. But, we do need the ECB. They have created great programming recently, including the series on Wisconsin towns’ histories, such as the recent one on Oshkosh. Not only is this educational to students, adults can learn and benefit from it as well. I cannot understand why Gov. Walker is targeting one of the most positive things in Wisconsin, WPT and WPR–some of the few informed and sane places on the dial.
linda pausch says:
please you must return funding. we need to keep this independent voice alive
Wayne Prophet says:
Save WPT and WPR from the radical cuts that would be necessitated by Gov. Walker’s heinous budget. Contact me!bers of the joint committee on finance and plead for the survival of our precious cultural/media resources.
Eva Wright says:
We need access to programs not supported by corporations. This is our only hope to have honest reporting without a corporate sponsor holding an axe over the head of the programmers and staffs. Please continue support for our public stations! WPT and WPR are the mainstay of our time listening to the radio and watching TV.
Carol Geiger says:
I moved to Asheville, NC 4 years ago. Recently I gave away my flat screen TV and now I only watch Wisconsin Public Television on my computer. I also continue supporting WPT because, quite frankly, your site is the only one worth watching on line. Thank you for giving us wonderful program series and news. I will continue to support WPT.
Hannah Tetting says:
Please keep PBS going it is the only channel worthy of watching.
Chuck and Barb Merry says:
Wisconsin has a long history of growing and supporting public funding of public media. It is critical for a whole host of reasons that funding of the ECB be continued at it’s most recent level or even at a slightly higher level. Wisconsin should continue to be a leader among all states in offering the very highest quality services and programming for its residents.