Cathy Wurzer and Lukas Levin
MPR News
Listeners to 89.9 KKWE might hear Ojibwe language and drumming music in between independent reporting on the local tribal government.
They might catch local hosts, like the “Talking with Terry” morning show — which station manager Maggie Rousu lovingly describes as “news, information, bad jokes.”
Rousu is part of a small team that keeps Niijii Radio running. It’s a tribal radio station located on the White Earth Reservation in northeastern Minnesota.
Niijii Radio is one of four tribal radio stations in the state of Minnesota and receives funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Rousu said that funding allows the station to report from the community and local events. But local funding threats from President Donald Trump put the station at risk.
“Corporation of Public Broadcasting probably covers about 45 percent of our costs,” Rousu told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on “Morning Edition.”
That funding has been the target of one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to “ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.”
While this order specifically focuses on ceasing funds to NPR and PBS, it trickles down to smaller stations like KKWE.
“CPB funding pays one full-time staff. It also covers our emergency broadcast system. It covers some of our programming,” she said.
And although Niijii Radio has a dedicated audience, a lot of them don’t have enough funds to help keep the station afloat.
“We do have some contributors that are contributing $1 a month,” Rousu said.
If CPB funds are cut, she said, “we could lose some local production.”
