WATERTOWN — WPBS is one of the hardest hit stations in New York following July’s defunding of national PBS and NPR stations.

The station has been forced to move aggressively following the elimination of federal funding, including reducing staff by one-third and canceling some services and productions.

On the plus side, the station has redoubled its efforts to grow sponsorship revenues, which has seen positive results, according to Mark Prasuhn, WPBS President and General Manager.

Prasuhn sent a letter top WPBS friends and supporters on Thursday concerning an update about the $9 billion Congress pulled in July that it previously agreed to spend, dedicated to foreign aid and public media across the country. In his letter, Prasuhn explained why, of the 18 PBS and NPR stations in New York State, WPBS is the second most at risk with over 30% of its revenues taken away.

¯ “The manner in which this was done — a claw back of two years’ worth of already promised funding — was a huge financial hit causing an immediate critical cash flow problem. Previous administrations have tried to defund or reduce funding for public media which would have been difficult but at least would have provided time to plan for the necessary changes.”

¯ ” … there are PBS and NPR stations based in larger cities that have access to a much bigger pool of potential revenues from sponsors, donors, philanthropists and foundations. There are stations owned by universities that have access to the resources of a much larger “parent” organization. And there are stations that hold multi-million dollar endowments. WPBS enjoys none of these advantages, and so the loss of $2 million in federal funding has a greater, more devastating impact.”

At the beginning of the year, WPBS had 18 employees. By mid-July staffing was cut to 12.

In his letter, Prasuhn said that asking viewers for “Emergency funding” would not be a reasonable request. “It was not our supporters who decided to remove this foundational funding and it should not be all on them to replace it.”

He noted that for 55 years, federal funding has allowed WPBS to meet specific needs for the people of the region, including the maintaining of two transmission towers (the tallest in St Lawrence and Lewis counties respectively) that deliver emergency warning alerts and support the work of emergency responders and law enforcement.

Federal funding allowed WPBS to develop educational content for students such as “GPS for Success,” the most comprehensive career planning tool specifically for north country middle and high school students. Also, federal funding supported the distribution of world-leading preschool programming and standards-aligned curriculum content available to teachers at no cost.

“In our view these are areas of responsibility for the federal government, for the good of all citizens,” Prasuhn wrote. “We regret that current leadership doesn’t see it that way, but nonetheless we don’t think it is fair to expect individuals to step in and fully fund services that benefit the public and which have been and should be supported at least in part, by government.”

The reductions and changes made by the station, are enough, Prasuhn said, to offset most of what it has lost with the $2 million clawback.

“But, we still have a gap and many Visionary Society ($1,000) have already stepped up in order to help close it.”

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The Canadian connection

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WPBS has an international reach, making it unique among PBS stations in the U.S. Prasuhn told the Times on Friday that the station has the highest percentage of its supporters from Canada, currently about 62%. He said that he received a letter from a Kingston, Ontario, viewer on Thursday saying that the station should relocate to Canada.

Asking for Canadian government support, Prasuhn said, is not likely practical. “Also Ontario has a PBS equivalent (TVO) based in Toronto that is funded by the Ontario government.”

But in a way, Prasuhn explained, WPBS does get some indirect support from Canada in that some of the productions it broadcasts, including some local ones like the upcoming six-part documentary series, “Upstate Attractions,” which profiles New York-based museums, receives funding from the Canadian government since they are produced by Canadian companies that can access the subsidy programs they have there for media productions.

With Canadian visitation numbers deeply down in Northern New York since President Donald Trump took office for his second term, Prasuhn was asked if he has seen any negative numbers on Canadian viewership, or support.

“The current trade tensions between our two countries have had some impact although the overwhelming majority of Canadians we have heard from say they want to keep supporting WPBS, and many are increasing their support given the recent federal defunding,” he said.

To support the station, call it at 315-782-8600 or go to wpbstv.org/donate.