PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – After the Corporation For Public Broadcasting announced on Monday that the board voted to dissolve the organization, the local PBS affiliate in Peoria, WTVP-TV, said it is focused on the future.
The CPB administered federal grants to public media stations, including NPR and PBS. According to CPB, the decision follows sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended.
On Saturday, 25 News spoke with the CEO and President of WTVP, Jenn Gordon, about the station’s fundraising efforts to cover back pay costs.
“When Congress did not allocate any funds for this year’s budget, for fiscal year 26, that was another indicator that we were not going to see federal funding for quite some time,” Gordon said.
WTVP is looking to a future that is fully supported at the local level in Central Illinois, but the station still hopes that one day the government support will return.
“This means moving forward, in perpetuity, we’re going to be looking to the community to stand alongside us,” Gordon said. “We are community owned, we are community licensed, we provide a very, very highly unique educational resource and community connection.”
Congress voted back in July 2025 to scale back $1.1 billion in funds for public broadcasting, prompting local stations like WTVP to take action to make up for the money to continue operations.
Just last week the station did finish a 5-month fundraising effort, through the “We Believe in WTVP,” reaching their goal of raising $1 million.
About 29 percent of the funding that helped WTVP came from federal funding, through the CPB, while the rest relied on memberships and partnerships.
“For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans—regardless of geography, income, or background—had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB in a statement speaking about the vote to shut down.
“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks,” she continued.
Created under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, CPB was a private, nonprofit corporation established by Congress and became the largest single source of funding for public radio and television.
Independent of PBS, NPR and local public television and radio stations, it developed shows such as “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers Neighborhood.”
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