Throughout my life, I have been a huge consumer of public media. I grew up watching my local Public Broadcasting channel, WTCI in Chattanooga, TN. My favorite programs were Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Electric Company, Zoom, 3.2.1. Contact, The Frugal Gourmet, This Old House, Hometime, old British comedies and more. I learned so much about being a better human being and learning new things through PBS

My wife and I give what we can to WTCI and have the benefit of watching old and new episodes of our favorite shows such as Call The Midwife and others through PBS streaming service. We enjoy watching cooking shows like America’s Test Kitchen, Milk Street, Lidia’s Kitchen, Pati’s Mexican Table and lots of others.

In the past, I have listened to NPR on the way to and from work. Our local station WUTC does a great job of keeping people up to date and enlightened with the music they play. NPR has a lot of great informational programming that is easy to listen to anywhere and everywhere.

This past week, there was an executive order stopping federal funding of PBS and NPR. The reasons given are hokum if you ask me. Public Media has such a small part of the total federal budget. It has enormous benefits to everyone. It’s independent and very helpful to kids learning from a small age.

I hear that some legislators feel there is an anti-American bias, but in all my years of watching, I haven’t seen it. Sure there are programs where the history of America is told which is problematic and those are facts that no one can deny. Ken Burns has done many documentary movies highlighting the best of America. PBS and NPR are about information, illumination and inspiration and promoting knowledge and even empathy.

My friends, support your local Public Media stations. They need our help now more than ever.