Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 228 to 192 to pass H.R. 1076, which would prohibit the federal funding of National Public Radio and the use of federal funds to purchase NPR-produced programming. While broadly referred to in national media and by lawmakers as "defunding NPR," any cuts could have a much more drastic impact among those communities that rely on it most -- those in rural areas. Alaska is no exception to this, with public radio stations serving some of the smallest populations and largest service areas of any in the nation.

While the bill to remove NPR's federal funding was introduced in the House on March 15 and passed a mere two days later, the debate over where NPR's money comes from has been a hot topic in Washington for some time. In February, the House passed a bill featuring $61 billion in budget cuts, including the removal of the entire budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Then, in early March, conservative blogger James O'Keefe released a hidden-camera video showing NPR fundraising executive Ron Schiller meeting with two men posing as potential donors from the "Muslim Education Action Center." The heavily-edited video portrays Schiller in conversation as calling the Tea Party "seriously racist people" and mentioning that "in the long run," NPR would be better off without federal funding.

In the unedited version of the video, Schiller qualifies this statement, saying that "some stations would be just fine, (but) many stations, particularly in rural areas where education is most critical, could wind up closing." This seems to have been lost in the subsequent outrage over the video, which led to the resignation of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation).

In Alaska, there are 26 NPR member stations, from Anchorage's KSKA to the remote St. Paul Island station KUHB, which sits 300 miles from the Alaska mainland and 240 miles north of the Aleutians, with a population of only 479. Other stations include Bethel (KYUK), Chevak (KCUK) and Wrangell (KSTK).

These radio stations, along with four public television stations, make up Alaska's public broadcasting system. Alaska Public Broadcasting, Inc. (APBI) functions as a service bureau for public broadcasting stations in Alaska. APBI Executive Director Jamie Waste describes part of the APBI mission as "helping stations raise money, save money, or at times when it makes sense for the system to act as one," to help them achieve a common goal. This can include writing grant proposals, buying equipment in bulk to get discounts, or providing a voice to Alaska's congressional delegation or Legislature on behalf of public broadcasting.

Over time, Waste said, Alaska's network of public broadcasting stations has become more intertwined. "There was a time when each station was fiercely independent," Waste said, "when there was enough money to go around." But as budget cuts have befallen broadcasters over the course of decades, the need to join together to secure funding has become more critical.

Rural stations rely on federal funding

According to Waste, at the state level, approximately 53 percent of funding comes from local support in the service areas of the stations, 28 percent is federal, and the rest comes from the state. That local funding can include member donations, and money provided by station underwriters.

Waste is quick to point out that those numbers for local support come from the state level and not from individual stations. "When you go out into the Bush," Waste said, "you're looking at stations that might have 50 percent, 60 percent federal dollars in funding."