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The decision by Congress to slash more than $1 billion from public broadcasting will reach deep into the Black community in Texas and beyond, cutting off grants to radio stations run by historically Black colleges and universities like Texas Southern University.
The Corporation of Public Broadcasting — the target of the cuts — has been providing grants to 14 public radio stations at HBCUs nationwide, including KTSU, which runs out of TSU in Houston and has been around for 53 years.
“We’re already working on a shoestring budget,” said Ernest Walker, general manager for KTSU's “The Choice,” which has been airing jazz, blues and hip-hop for decades, along with community news to reach people in ways other media might not be able to. “It will definitely affect our operating budget.”
The station received about $203,000 in grants from the CPB last year to help cover an annual budget of close to $2 million.
The CPB sent more than $17 million worth of grants to public radio and TV stations across the state in 2024.
While public television stations like KUHT in Houston and KRLN in San Antonio get a big piece of that money, smaller community radio stations in Marfa, Texarkana and Killeen will be hit by the cuts.
Most of those grants to small stations will be cut off starting in October.
Both U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted in support of the cuts earlier this week, and the House voted 216 to 213 on Thursday night to advance the bill to President Donald Trump. All 25 Texas Republicans voted for the cuts in the House, with with the chamber's 12 Texas Democrats voting against them.
Part of the TSU campus is in the 18th Congressional District, which does not currently have a member in Congress after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in March. Gov. Greg Abbott has delayed setting a special election until November to fill the seat.
Republicans said the vote was partly aimed at the bias they say exists on public radio and television.
“Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars shouldn’t be used to fund left-wing propaganda machines like NPR and PBS,” U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, said after the vote.
It's not just the HBCUs and the Black community that will feel the cuts. In San Antonio, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, said public broadcasting reaches people that corporate stations cannot.
"Over the years, public television has helped tell stories that are often forgotten or ignored," Castro said. "It has showcased Latino talent and has helped to tell the Latino story."
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Donald Trump.
The president has leveraged the power of his office for personal gain, unlike anyone before in history. From crypto coins to Bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, the AP reports on how Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government.
Down: Texas Democrats.
They don’t have many tools at their disposal as they try to fight President Donald Trump’s directive for Texas Republicans to redraw all of the state’s congressional districts to make it easier to defeat up to five more Democrats in Congress from the state in 2026. “We don't have a lot of options," State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, said. A special session to redraw all the lines starts on Monday, and Democrats are scrambling to build a strategy. Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, flew to Houston on Friday to offer support to Texas Democrats and some fighting words: “If Texas Republicans want a showdown, we will give them a showdown,” Martin said.
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A big thank you. I just wanted to thank all of y’all for helping the Texas Take Newsletter grow by leaps and bounds over the last two years with me as your pilot. We have grown our audience significantly, and so many of y’all have become like a community, sending me regular responses and feedback. I’m particularly excited to say we have a growing statewide reach with people from Texarkana to Amarillo to the Rio Grande Valley regularly joining the conversation. Thanks a lot and please check out my new revamped Texas Take Podcast, which will get you ready for the special session starting on Monday.
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There are a lot of benefit concerts for the families in the Texas Hill Country, but I have this one circled in red on my calendar. Longview native Miranda Lambert and Conroe’s Parker McCollum lead a lineup that includes Texans Kelly Clarkson, Cody Johnson, Lyle Lovett, Randy Rogers, Ryan Bingham and Wade Bowen, among others. The show is scheduled for Aug. 17 at the Moody Center in Austin.
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