An op-ed by Maddy Butcher (
@thecayuse ), who produces the podcast “Awe, Nice!” and was a writer for the short documentary “A Brutal, Beautiful Life”:
Radio station KSJD sits in the old Montezuma Valley National Bank building on East Main Street in Cortez, Colorado, near a law office, a funeral home, a natural foods store and the
@LounginLizardCortez . On the building’s steps, there’s a water bowl for dogs, set out every morning by the station’s operations director.
Along Main Street, there have been occasional anti-Trump protests this summer. More frequently, over the past several years, weekly convoys have rolled along Main Street — a dozen vehicles or more, bedecked with American flags and MAGA banners, driving up and down a mile-long stretch.
People in Montezuma County voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. And yet
@ksjd_community_radio — an affiliate of NPR, that longtime target of Republican ire — has grown from an entirely volunteer operation running out of a trailer a few decades ago to a staff with four full-timers, an adjunct performing arts venue and a $580,000 budget. It is the only independently operated radio station or media outlet in the county, and it is one of hundreds of rural radio stations whose budgets will be slashed by the recent White House-requested congressional rescission of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The CPB is the conduit of federal dollars to NPR and PBS. As a result, 30 percent of KSJD’s funding will go away.
Like a lot of rural stations, KSJD serves as a left-leaning beacon in a conservative community. I sit on its board of directors. A few years ago, we brought up what some board members felt was an anti-Trump bias on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” two NPR shows the station airs.
We thought about swapping the NPR shows for similar news programming from, say, the BBC. This fleeting idea was rejected for two reasons: BBC programs would not allow us enough time slots to drop in local news and interviews, and our supporters really like “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
Still, I was bothered.
🔗 Visit the link in
@PostOpinions ’ bio to read more.
![/ A Brutal, Beautiful LifeIn the vast, rugged beauty of the Rocky Mountains and high desert, ranching women, their dogs, horses, and cattle, share powerful connections that reveal nature’s quiet ways.Watch Now [link in bio]Executive Producer: Trust @madewithtrust , Sarah Brannan @sarah_t_brannan
Director, DoP, and Editor: Beau Gaughran @soulfolle
Writer and Producer: Maddy Butcher @thecayuse
Sound Design: Colton Jackson @coltonjackson_12
Color: Filip Kotsishevskiy @flipkolor
Cast:
Vicki Taussig (Narrator) @vicki.taussig
Caitlyn Taussig @caitlyntaussig
Sheldonna Zwicker
Maddy Butcher @thecayuse
Sarah Bangert @rx_grazing
Taylor Hammack @tayhamm20
Bailey Monnahan @baileymonnahan
Jessica Munn @salty_heifer_leatherworks#DailyShortPicks #shortfilm #documentary](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6722676355733452224057_0_db5c4740180e5df284af8de7984ca473.jpg?o=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&h=a1b2702d1cae5866409bfb9ef077c02c)
