- Funding for Working Capital is provided by the friends of KTW, the Raven C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation.

And go, Topeka, Your biggest client leaves, your funding gets cut, who knows what happened, but your business has taken a huge hit to its capital.

What do you do next?

Well, today we're dealing with that internally, so let's pull back those curtains again and talk to the general manager of KTW, Val Vander slu, and let's figure out how businesses can navigate this.

So right off the bat though, let's talk about what probably is on most people's mind, there was a huge loss of funding.

So in general, let's talk about that and how that impacts us and, and maybe across the board.

Sure.

All the sister stations.

- Sure.

So, yeah.

Yeah, we definitely have lost some funding.

A few weeks ago we, the Senate voted to defund public broadcasting, and this was part of the Res Rescissions Act that came about.

We lost 1.1 billion, so that is overall for public radio and public television.

And our chunk of that is about nine 900 thou $970,000.

So, so we are now, that's about a third of our budget.

And, and life as we know it has definitely changed over this past month and actually this past several months that we've been battling this Rescissions package.

But what we are doing now is, is rallying the troops.

We are trying to find ways to survive, trying to find ways to supplement that funding from a variety of resources through expense cuts and, and seeing if there is a way that we can survive and actually we will survive.

We just need to figure out more creative ways to bring in the revenue that has been lost, lost as a result of the federal funding loss.

- So, so the CPB, which was the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that's what we kind of lost.

That was the word.

Yes.

The money was then distributed out to various media outlets, so - Absolutely.

Yes.

- Whereas say like PBS station in New York City has access to bigger donors, bigger underwriters, they may be able to sustain a little bit.

- Absolutely.

- We're in a smaller market, you know, a hundred and 30th something market, we still have a little bit of scope.

But then you have these very small stations.

Yes.

Western Kansas, some of the other smaller states where they provide not just normal, normal access to programming, but they're also giving news or weather updates.

So they're losing out on that because they may not be able to weather this at all.

So, - Correct.

So the CPB, they would determine the amount of funding for each station based upon the market reach.

Their DMA, the viewership, just really in a sense of how many potential members do you have to help support your station.

The less you have, the more federal funding you would receive to assist with your station operations.

We, a, a third, a third of our was our federal funding.

And Smokey Hills is a different story.

They are about half is, is what they get from the federal government.

And so of course that's gonna have a much larger impact on their operations and their decisions moving forward.

And, and that is what they're talking about right now.

And that is a huge cut.

And where, where do you find that money to be able to supplement that?

You know, there's this misperception that, that the public can support us, you know, while they're already supporting you.

Why do you need federal funding?

And, and to a point, yes, they are supporting us, but they can only support up to a certain amount.

You know, you can't make people donate, you can't create people to donate.

You know, you have a certain amount of audience that you reach, and that is the audience that can then support your station.

- We're dealing with people with fixed incomes.

- Absolutely.

- You know, we're not, we don't, we would love to have people win the lottery and just turn around and be like, here's, here's a million dollars.

Wouldn't be wonderful.

- It would be wonderful.

Yes, yes.

But yes.

So yeah, smokey Hills will be impacted.

Wichita is impacted.

They lost, I believe about a million on their side as well.

You know, KCPT, they, they're a little less, they're a much more urban audience.

They have a much more wider reach for membership and, and so, you know, but all of us are going to hurt and on services, but C program, - Yes.

But the CCP help even it out.

So places like Western Kansas where the smaller communities, they may not have a local news show, you know, that may be getting piped in from Wichita, but they're getting local weather, they're getting stuff that they normally wouldn't get.

And of course it's farmland.

It's places that doesn't have huge corporations.

So as we know, we have the best farmers in Kansas, but they're not millionaire and billionaires.

So.

- Sure.

- Like you said, where do we find that funding, the CPB kept it more level for everybody to wear the same quality of broadcast across the board can reach pretty much all of America.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So most broadcasters, because of that federal funding had the ability to provide the PBS programming to all viewing audiences across the entire country.

And now with the cut in funding that is going to impact those smaller stations in those rural areas that in my opinion, need public broadcasting the most because they have less resources available.

For example, preschool, you know, there, there are desert areas, meaning preschool deserts in my opinion, where, you know, you don't have as easy access to preschool, daycare providers don't have as much access to the educational resources they need to help supplement those children who are within their walls every day.

You know, we know our children, we drop them off.

And wouldn't, we love to be able to have, know that they are being educated wherever we drop them off at PBS Kids is a supplement to that early education that is absolutely required for our children as they go into kindergarten.

I know my kids, if they had not had preschool and they were lucky to have had that, they would not have been prepared for what they expect from kindergartners as they come Right.

That first day into school.

- It's trusted, it's vetted by professionals.

Absolutely.

It's not just absolutely willy-nilly thrown out there.

This is, this is what we think, think should, should happen.

- Right?

They have researchers, they have panels, they have parents, they have focus groups, educators and the Department of education, the CPB.

There is so much scrutiny that goes into all of that PBS kids programming to make it a safe resource and an educational resource and a trusted resource for our children.

- And really even for the children, not just the PBS kids.

When you get into shows, like one of my old favorites, this old house, you know, I've watched that since I was little.

I saw things that maybe my dad or mom weren't good at, but it gave me the opportunity to see someone doing it and kind of perk my interest in this.

Is this something I can do?

So even the older programming is educational even for the youngest out there.

And you never know what they'll see and if they'll go that route they on.

So it is one of the best early building blocks, especially for parents who can't afford you there.

And there may be plenty of preschool and education there, but not saying the general pocket, there's can't afford it.

- Yeah.

Educ, early preschool education, even daycares that offer learning resources, it's all very expensive and, and you're lucky to be able to have access to that.

So, you know, with the preschools and with the daycare providers that children's programming comes into play.

Also, you know, we, you talked about the adult programming that also comes into play.

My kids were watching Nova and Nature at very young ages.

And, and so you were absolutely correct that all of our programming is is heavily researched and scrutinized before it hits the air.

A lot of that programming is several years in the making before it even hits the air because of the requirements for us to be able to be educational and a trusted resource.

- Well this is a great first glimpse inside the workings of the station.

So when we get back, we'll find out a little more.

- Hi, I'm Lynn Richter, a KTW, viewer and supporter.

KTW is our local station that serves this local community.

It depends on national support and local support from viewers like you and me.

KTWU cannot survive without funding and with national funding being drastically cut, donating money to KTWU assures the station can afford to purchase the shows we depend on and enjoy watching.

Please log one to k tw.org or call the number on your screen to help fund KTWU at this critical time.

Thank you very much.

- Welcome back.

Okay, Val, let's get into the bread and butter content.

We wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be dealing with - This.

My favorite part - Without the programming.

- Yes.

- So tell us a little bit about PPS and the programming side of things and how the content comes to be.

- Absolutely.

So, so content is actually my background and you know, before I became the general manager, and I say it's my favorite because I was able to do all the program schedules for KTWU for many, many years, 20 years to be exact.

And, and what I loved about it was not only scheduling the shows and being creative in the way that we built those shows and built the blocks of programming, but also the communication I was able to have with all of our viewers because our viewers are heavily invested into that content.

They are.

And you know, you know when you're doing something right, 'cause actually you don't hear from a whole lot when you're doing things right.

You know, when you make one little mistake or you schedule a wrong program, that's when all those calls are coming.

And, and, but that's how you also know people are watching because they are.

So I just love that interaction with the viewers.

But so with content, we do work with a PBS program schedule, being a PBS member station, we have access to their entire schedule, which is all those programming, primetime programming options that everybody has come gotten used to seeing.

So you have the masterpiece, the Antiques Roadshow, nature Nova, this old house that you were talking about earlier, the great performances in life from Lincoln Centers.

Those are all of those PBS staples that people have come to expect as part of the regular schedule.

And then what we do is we look at that schedule, PBS tells us, here's what we, here's what we're providing you.

Here are the holes that are available for you to fill.

And so we take those holes and then that's where we come up with the Doc Martins the Midsummer Murders, death in Paradise, all those additional acquisitions that we purchase separately from PBS.

So our program acquisitions between our PBS membership and our program acquisitions, we are close to about 800,000 to a million per year.

And just programming that we invest on a regular basis for the sake of enjoyment and for education and informing our viewers.

- And, and besides the educational part, the enjoyment part, it is someplace where, you know, it is a safe space.

- It is.

- So if your kids walk in, you're not worrying about covering eyes.

And there may be a little bit of, of old Victorian language that may go over their head, but it's nothing that you have to worry about.

So it's kind of, it's kind of anxiety free television.

- It is, it is.

And you know, and if there is any content that is more adult in nature, that's absolutely designated at the top of the shows.

And then they're also for the later night.

So, you know, we just, we are very aware of who is watching and when they're watching and we make sure that we're appealing to all the audiences at the, at the designated times in which it's assumed, you know, if children are watching a particular time, we're making sure that we are putting content on that that is appropriate for, for family audiences for sure.

So, - So besides that kind of content, how does getting all that national content help with creating local content?

- So what the national content does is provide a platform for discussion.

And sometimes what we'll do is we'll look at that national content that's coming in and, and we'll identify areas with our local content that maybe we can expand on.

And, and so if there is a particular subject matter, let's say breast cancer for example, that is absolutely something that we can expand upon from a national piece that may be offered through PBS.

And then we can take our IGI or our working capital or inspire or even create a whole new piece of content that is related to that breast cancer related, we can extend the messaging to incorporate how that subject matter impacts our own local audience.

And so we, we take, we make national local, - And with that even it, it's really is kind of a safe space here.

I think we've gotten the reputation on not to get political, but on both sides of the aisle.

'cause we do do a lot with the political scenes.

So we have debates, we have forums - Absolutely.

- And Republican, democrat, independent, libertarian, they all enjoy coming here.

They all all treated the same.

- Absolutely.

- We've had great turnouts in great forms.

So it, this really is a voice for the community.

It's not like your, your normal, your normal commercial stations with your nightly news, which is driven in a different way.

They're doing great stuff, but we really are the community outlet.

- Yes.

We offer a voice, we offer a platform for our viewers.

And even if those viewers can't be on those shows, we are listening to them when our viewers contact us and they say, I really wanna see a, an election show featuring, let's say second correctional district candidates, for example.

Absolutely.

We agree.

And, and so we work to be able to do that kind of thing if we have a viewer that that contacts us.

And you know, for example, a women motorcycle rider, you know, we, we worked with her to distribute a national show and, and her idea was well let you know, is there any way we could do a local show?

And we sure did.

You know, we did a, a local show on our Inspire series that, that featured women motorcycle riders and, and the impact of riding motorcycles, how it helps them and, and it helps 'em through difficult situations.

And so, so you know, we're listening and no, no subject matter is out of question.

You know, there, there may be some that are much more relevant and topical than others that we know we absolutely need to cover.

Now there are some that we may need more time to digest and figure out, and maybe that's something we cover later.

But all of our viewers have an impact and have a say in what it is that we're putting on our air.

And when we're putting together our timelines for all of our local content we are putting together, we're looking at all those viewer comments and saying, okay, this viewer suggested this and suggested that.

And, and we look at ways to incorporate that within the timeline.

- We're talking a little bit about independent producers.

So talking about the community, we are a good outlet for people with good documentaries.

But it is a whole different funding structure.

You know - This absolutely.

- Public television is not where you go to become rich and famous.

It's where you go because you love what you do, you love the knowledge, you love the growing every day.

So these people that come to us with documentaries or even even more creative endeavors, the whole funding is more of an upfront thing.

So when we get back, let's get into a little bit more than meat and potatoes of how that works, but then also a little bit more how the station works and how we think Absolutely.

We may be able to get out of this new storm.

So - Sounds great.

- Stick around.

You're watching Working Capital.

Welcome back.

Okay.

From this amazing little studio, from this amazing place.

We do help a lot of other producers get their workout nationally, whether it's Make 48, which is a great production, or whether it's Kevin Wilma's Next, next Ideation, it's it's an amazing place.

Yeah.

How do we help them out to get their vision out across the us?

- Right.

So as a public broadcaster, we do have access to national distribution resources to other public broadcasting stations.

And PBS is one of 'em.

That's the obvious, that's the most difficult one.

You get PBS and you know, you've got really solid content, but you have PBS, you have a PT, we have NETA and I know I'm doing giving acronyms, but, but basically there's about four different distribution mechanisms for public broadcasting that we can offer content to.

And we have many producers that have contacted us with wonderful content from all over the nation.

We work deals with a lot of producers I've never even met, but they keep coming to us because of the service that we provide.

- Word of mouth - And word of mouth.

Absolutely.

And so what we do is we take that content and we offer it to the system and we're able to provide ratings, information station relations, we're able to encourage air dates across the country.

I have lots of contacts within the programming industry and you know, being able to talk with them and encourage them.

But you know, you said you don't get rich with distribution and that's absolutely correct.

What a producer, what people don't realize and producers some of 'em don't realize is when they call me and say, I've got a hot show for you, - You should buy it.

- Yeah.

You should buy it.

You should offer it to PBS.

We'll get Rich.

And, and I unfortunately have to give them the reality and that in order to maintain editorial control of your content and ownership of your content, PBS is a different structure.

And that the distribution, the promotion, all elements of that have to be fundraised on the front end.

So when you see, when you see Antiques Roadshow proudly sponsored by, those are those entities that have funded those productions on the front end.

They have given the money to help with production, to help with distribution, to help with marketing and promotions and every other element associated with getting a piece of content produced from the front to the end.

And, and so they fundraise for that.

They pay us an amount to be able to, they pay us a distribution cost to get that out there.

But what they get in return is all ownership.

Any ancillary product sold, they can take it and they can, they own it to where they can put it on any of their distribution platforms.

- And it's still under their creative control.

- They still under their absolute - Getting someone saying, go back in the edit booth.

- Right.

- This needs to be removed.

- Right.

They aren't selling their content for someone else to make it something completely different what they than what the original mission was.

- And with that too, I mean we do have local programs that we create inhouse that are ours that do go national - The same way and they go national as well.

So have tons of local landscape.

Yes.

- Our Theater of the Mind series.

- Yep.

- All those RC nationally.

So we create a lot of value here locally that is seen and witnessed - Appreciated by, appreciated - By the nation.

- So absolutely.

And we can offer Kansas content and be able to provide that exposure for Kansas.

You know, there's this perception, we're a flyover state.

Yeah.

We really are not this, we have a beautiful state with beautiful people and just unique stories.

And I love to be able to feature that on a national level.

- Another side of this too with, with these local stations all across the nation is the outreach connected to the community and content.

So there's quite often, and I wish more people could be a part of these, but you know, we have outreach programs where maybe a new show coming up, so we have a discussion group that's watching it or we go out and we're at a kids' event.

So - Absolutely.

- Tell us a little bit more about how outside of the television, outside of the cameras we interact with the community.

- Yeah, so we do, we do community events.

We do a Women on Wheels car show.

You know, that's kind of a fun one to get all the women car enthusiasts to come and bring their vehicles there, show them off.

And we have the Mr. Rogers sweater drive that we do on an annual basis, which helps a lot of the children within the USD, the Topeka Public School District and providing much needed winter weather gear during those particular months.

We have character meet and greets, we give out free books and resources to kids and just a whole variety of options that we're able to offer that that is outside of the programming that also provide resources and education to our younger and our adult viewers.

- Well all this is great, but of course if funding dries up, we can't do this anymore.

So where does this station slowly start to turn?

Right?

We know we're in the very beginning of this, but just from our standpoint, where do you see we can, we can make those adjustments or try to help supplement - Yes.

In - The short term while we build on long term investment from other people.

- Right.

So what we are doing now is we're, we're building a, well, first off I have to say we're not going anywhere and we will always be here as a resource of support for our community.

We are a partner with our local community.

So we are not going anywhere.

We just have some creative challenges that we need to figure out right now.

And one of those is our major giving campaign that we just launched.

That's the SOS campaign.

And it is very ambitious, but we think we can do it.

And we've had great success so far.

But this is a goal of 2026 donors through 2025 and 2026 to donate at a level of $500, $42 a month is what we're looking for in contribution.

If we can hit that goal and if we can even hit half that goal, we are making a dent and that funding that we are looking for, that we need, that we lost from the federal funding.

You know, we're also, we have a very healthy endowment that we, that we can use.

But that's not a long-term solution for sure.

But, but our main goal is to, we're here to stay.

We, we need to increase our membership.

That's a main goal.

We want to continue to increase our endowment funds.

We are looking of course at expense cuts and, and some of those are related to some of our membership fees that are actually getting quite successful and we've been able to cut some of those expenses and, but we always want our donors to know that we are here, we are good stewards of the donor dollar and we care greatly about exactly where all of the revenues that are brought in from our donors and their generosity and their membership and how that's divided among to make sure we're maximizing every cent, every dollar that we get from our community members.

- And I will say for our community and our viewing area, I think we're number two in the US so - Yes.

- Think per capita, but percentage of that reach.

Yeah, we are number two.

So - Dollar for dollar in our DMA.

Yes.

- It, it's a really good investment back in your own community.

- Absolutely.

We were the number two highest watch station in the entire country and that's, you know, of course it, it comes into DMA factors, you know, so what is in your viewing audience, how many people are there?

But we achieved about 50% primetime viewers on a nightly basis.

And this is at the end of 2024 is when we did that data study from July through December of 24.

So number two in the nation in our DMA for viewership, which wow.

People around the nation are like Topeka, Kansas, what is that?

And what are they doing there?

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

So we're doing good things.

We, our viewers, we love them, our members, our supporters, everybody out there that is pitching in to help us through this process.

And even a supportive word and statement is so appreciated.

- Well just, I know when we're out shooting, you know, finding those viewers and sometimes outside of our own area where say like Smokey Hills, which carry our sunflower journeys forever, we find people like, that's my favorite show.

So you find 'em all across the - State.

Yes.

- How they've been touched, even - It is Southwest Corner, Kansas, - Every Yes, - We had that.

It was amazing to be able to see the appreciation for what we do in all corners of our state.

You know, and, and just to bring a little bit of light to this, you know, 82% of Kansas, this is a study that was done, 82% of Kansans support public broadcasting and that, I'm not saying support monetarily wise.

They support our mission, the mission, they watch us.

And then outside of that, 66% of Republicans, 63% of Trump voters support public broadcasting.

So we are here for everybody.

We're not here for just one side.

We always want to provide balance programming.

We are here to take comments, questions, concerns, we take all of them seriously.

And, and we are here to serve everybody in Kansas - In a day and age of still corporate handouts where, you know, that that is to help reinvest in corporations.

But we really do need to get back and reinvest in society, especially something safe enough where it, it hits every level of the community.

So - Yeah, absolutely - That way.

I really do appreciate you coming on and letting our viewers know a little bit how this runs.

I know we could have been here for another three hours, but I really do appreciate it 'cause it's such a big mission and you know, there's, there's a big wave now we're trying to make, make it through.

So - We'll get there, - We'll get - There.

We're very optimistic.

- So let's everyone stay optimistic.

Keep your smiles on.

We're gonna keep good content coming from here.

We're gonna keep bringing you good businesses.

So I hope today you've learned a little bit more about what happens here behind the curtains and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Thanks for watching Working Capital.

To catch up on previous episodes of Working Capital scan the QR code with your phone or go to www.watch.kw.org.

Funding for working capital is provided by the friends of KTW, the Raven C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation.

And go Topeka.