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A bill to revoke already allocated federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) could jeopardize northern Arizona radio stations serving tribal communities and undermine the effectiveness of a new national alert system intended to help address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

By a slim margin of , the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday, June 12, that would rescind $1.1 billion in funding for CPB at President Donald Trump’s request. That money, approved by Congress in a prior spending bill, represents two years of funding for the nonprofit organization.

CPB redistributes its federal funds to public media outlets around the country. Among those are 36 radio stations broadcasting to tribal lands -- including four in Arizona -- receiving community service grants to support their work. For those stations, CPB funding makes up anywhere from 30% to 70% of their annual budget, and a withdrawal of federal support could be a huge setback.

“I strongly believe -- and this is my personal opinion -- that an informed society is part of our civic infrastructure,� Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, said.

Native Public Media advises and assists radio stations (and a few television stations) serving Indigenous communities.

“What radio brings to Indian Country,� Taylor said, “is that it not only connects us with the outside world, but it also connects us internally.�

Many Native American reservations face connectivity gaps -- limited broadband internet access, patchy cell phone service or both -- and radio broadcasts provide a free source of news and information with minimal technological barriers. That includes urgent public safety notices such as flash flood or severe weather warnings, updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and missing person alerts.

“They provide a service during emergencies. They provide information that is crucial to our decision-making abilities. They help to raise awareness and keep our officials accountable,� Taylor said. “All these things are important to a thriving society and are super important to tribal nation-building as well.�

Samantha Molina is the general manager of KUYI Radio, which transmits from Antelope Mesa on the Hopi Reservation. The station broadcasts in Hopi and English, supporting the continued vitality of the Hopi language and the preservation of tribal traditions.

The station has “heavily relied on CPB funding since the beginning,� Molina said.

This year, CPB grants comprise 48.3% of KUYI’s revenue.

“Other than a local, smaller newspaper that just services three out of 12 villages, KUYI is now the sole source of news and information for the Hopi community,� Molina said.

The station is preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, and Molina is dividing her time between planning for the celebration and writing new grant applications in case the federal funding does disappear.

“Thankfully, we do have the support from our licensee, who is also our parent organization, the Hopi Foundation,� she added. “They are also rallying support around us and helping to leverage some funding that’ll hold us for the short term.�

For the long term, however, the plan is less clear.

“Our station plays an indispensable role in disseminating critical emergency information, including weather alerts, law enforcement updates and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) alerts, ensuring the well-being of our rural and geographically isolated communities,� KUYI’s annual report states. “Without CPB funding, KUYI would face significant challenges in maintaining these vital services, limiting our capacity to inform, educate and connect our audience.�

Representatives of KGHR Radio, broadcasting from Tuba City on the Navajo Nation, could not be reached for comment prior to publication. However, the station’s annual reports provide some insight: “Quite frankly, KGHR would not be in existence without the CPB funding,� the most recent station activity summary states.

Per KGHR’s , it received approximately $138,000 from CPB in 2022 and $148,000 in 2023. In both years, those grants made up slightly less than half of the station’s total revenue.

KGHR broadcasts in English, Navajo (Diné) and Hopi.

“As a radio station located on the Navajo Nation, stories and other oral teachings are vital to sustaining our tradition,� the station’s report notes. “This funding allows KGHR to serve Indigenous and rural listeners who rely solely on radio to get community information.�

Taylor recalled that up until relatively recently, many Native American reservations were effectively "black holes" in the media landscape.

“We are in news deserts,� she said. “We operate because there’s nothing else out there.�

New emergency alert could be undermined

Taylor is particularly concerned about how cuts to Native-operated radio stations would compromise the effectiveness of the new Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP) alert, set to debut across the U.S. and its territories this fall.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) closely regulates the that may be broadcast via the nation’s Emergency Alert System.

Last year, the FCC approved the addition of the MEP code to the list, following consultation with tribal nations. Adding that code to the system was intended to provide a uniform method for alerting the public and law enforcement about missing persons, similar to an Amber Alert.

“It gives our people a higher chance of finding our loved ones,� Molina said. “This is a huge win for Native public radio stations -- to have a code that will help prevent missing and murdered people.�

The alert, she added, could help create “a wider net of response� and “a bigger network of eyes and ears in the community for a safe return.�

Currently, estimates of the number of missing or murdered Indigenous persons are due to nonreporting, misclassification and regional variations in record-keeping. Even still, the estimates that more than 4,000 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous persons remain unsolved, and the acknowledges that Native American or Alaska Native women experience violence at exceptionally high rates.

In a 2023 of Native voters� priorities, the problem of missing and murdered persons was the highest-ranked issue.

“No matter what data you look at, the reality of the situation is that it’s very stark,� Taylor said.

The MEP alert is not restricted to cases involving Indigenous persons, but Taylor and other advocates believe it could be a major step forward for solving or tracking such cases. In the FCC’s , “The MEP code could be particularly beneficial to Tribal communities, where American Indians and Alaska Natives are at a disproportionate risk of violence, murder, or vanishing.�

But to maximize the alert’s usefulness, it needs to be broadcast as widely as possible.

“We know that when people go missing, they’re often transported to other jurisdictions,� Taylor said. “And you need jurisdictions to be able to cooperate with each other and to communicate with each other.�

If stations serving tribal lands shut down for lack of funding, MEP alerts might not reach Indigenous communities as they were intended to, severely limiting what Molina calls the “wider net of response.�

“To tell them there’s a potential that they will go dark means that it’s going to hurt the rollout of the MEP alert,� Taylor said. “And that’s going to be devastating.�

The U.S. Senate has not yet voted on the proposed funding cut to CPB, but it must do so by July 18. Trump has that CPB and other public media, like National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, are “left-wing propaganda.� (He has also attempted to remove CPB's board members -- a move the organization has challenged in court.)

In the House vote, Arizona’s representatives split along party lines. Democratic representatives Yassamin Ansari and Greg Stanton voted against the bill, while all six Republicans -- David Schweikert, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Juan Ciscomani, Abraham Hamadeh and Paul Gosar � voted for it. (Arizona’s ninth House seat remains vacant following the death of Raul Grijalva earlier this year.)

The total funding to the 36 tribal radio stations receiving community service grants is approximately $6 million each year -- about 1% of CPB’s total annual budget and an average of less than $170,000 per station.

“For that cost, which I feel is very minimal in terms of the larger federal budget, it provides universal access to trusted news and information,� Taylor said. “Those are attributes that are very powerful for communities that have gone underserved for a very long time.�