A Letter from KWMR Executive Director Amanda Eichstaedt

July 21, 2025

To Our KWMR Community,

Late Thursday night, Congress passed H.R.4, the Rescissions Act of 2025,
eliminating $1.1 billion in federal support for public media, including $158,000
that KWMR depends on every year.

The elimination of 26% of KWMR’s budgeted funds each year is a huge blow. I
am personally devastated by what this means to KWMR as well as to our fellow
stations across the country, many in even more rural and remote areas. I’m
also saddened by the $8.3 billion in other cuts passed in this bill.

Thank you to everyone who reached out via Protect My Public Media to elected
officials. After watching way too much C-SPAN last week, I can assure you that
our representatives put up a good fight to retain public media funding, but they
did not prevail.

So what do we do now? We all pivoted during the global pandemic, but now it is
time to evolve. While we have relied on and are grateful for the support from
CPB, it is time to diversify our funding streams. Now is the time to be creative,
flexible, and self-reliant as we move forward.

We have a committed and determined team working at KWMR. We have close
to 100 amazing volunteer programmers that bring you the shows that you love.
We have a governing Board of Directors who care deeply about this station, and
we have YOU.

As we move forward to maintain KWMR’s relevance in our community, we
welcome your ideas and feedback. We also thank all of you for your support.
Every dollar counts. KWMR is launching an ongoing initiative to add a third
fundraising effort to our Annual Pledge Drive and End of Year Appeal. You can
support our efforts by donating through our website at KWMR.org.


Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager and Executive Director
KWMR West Marin Community Radio