Note that state contributions totaled less than 5% of their total revenue. The CPB grant, which could be stretched to be considered state/government contributions, was about 16% of their revenue.
Given that member station contribution is 30% of NPR's total revenue, there's no chance that state funding is going to reach 30%-40% values.
And those member stations rely on _local_ subscriptions to stay solvent. They need to engage with their communities in a way that the communities find useful.
This basically is big govt working the right way. This framework enables local communities to support their local public broadcasting networks, which then contribute to the state and federal news via NPR, which is better at elevating the stories that matter to the nation.
Perhaps worth reading from the horses' mouth as it were.
Also, here's the financials for a member station near me:
https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/4c/1d/4e0c21b44d2aa963c25f8bc9...
Note that state contributions totaled less than 5% of their total revenue. The CPB grant, which could be stretched to be considered state/government contributions, was about 16% of their revenue.
Given that member station contribution is 30% of NPR's total revenue, there's no chance that state funding is going to reach 30%-40% values.