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In the half-decade since Mare Mazur became the president of Vegas PBS, the regional Emmy Award-winning TV executive managed to skillfully navigate her network through the pandemic, diversify its funding streams and extend its streak as one of the top-ten most-watched PBS stations nationwide to 15 consecutive years.
Lately, however, Mazur and her team have been preparing to tackle an entirely different challenge. Congressional Republicans clawed back more than $9 billion in public funds and programs by narrowly passing the Rescissions Act of 2025 last month. The cuts include $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which has played an instrumental role in supporting PBS and National Public Radio outlets since 1967.
In response, the CPB announced it would embark on an “orderly wind-down” of operations through early 2026, including gutting most of its staff by September 30.
Now, Vegas PBS and other Valley public media nonprofits like Nevada Public Radio are facing an unprecedented chapter as they look to offset annual funding shortfalls of 12% and 8%, respectively, in 2026 and 2027.
“I think we were put on notice even before this administration took office,” Mazur says. “When they published Project 2025, there was an entire section dedicated to why CPB, PBS and NPR should be defunded, and we went into the New Year expecting that there would be some kind of effort there.”
She wishes her suspicions weren’t true.
“It’s very sad for me. The public owns these airways and likes our work, and I feel like that relationship in this public-private partnership is now being forgotten and ignored,” she says.
Mazur says Vegas PBS will lose roughly $3.8 million over the next two fiscal years, while Nevada Public Radio CEO Favian Perez says the station will see $800,000 less over the same period. All in all, Silver State public television and radio operators are set to suffer a collective blow of $7.5 million, according to a statement from Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
Cortez Masto and fellow Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen from Nevada sided against the cuts when they were approved via a 51-48 Senate vote on July 17. An initial June vote in the House of Representatives also saw all four of Nevada’s elected officials rally against the cuts, but Republican Rep. Mark Amodei eventually joined 215 of his GOP peers to pass it through the House in conjunction with the Senate vote last month.
In a June 12 statement—a month before Amodei rescinded his opposition—he cited concerns over the services his primarily rural constituents would lose if he didn’t take a stand. This notably includes a series of emergency alert systems administered through the national public media network.
“I agree we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit. However, I would be doing a disservice to the thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air,” Amodei wrote before he changed course.
Later, after flipping his vote, Amodei wrote in a follow-up statement that he would “continue to fight for our local broadcasters in the months ahead.”
“We will have at least three more opportunities—through the Appropriations Committee markup process, voting on the House floor and conferencing with the Senate—to ensure that local broadcasting is still supported in [fiscal year 2026],” Amodei wrote.Weekly’s request for comment.He was unavailable to respond to the
Mazur isn’t banking on a deus ex machina anytime soon. While she believes Vegas PBS’ relative funding “surplus” will help it stay afloat for the foreseeable future, she adds that her funding losses essentially slash what they would have paid annually in PBS dues.
For her, that membership is crucial because it helps Vegas PBSleverage additional funding and support. Now, she says the station will be “doubling down on our commitment to local [programming]” to help mitigate the fallout.
“What I can control is what we do in our marketplace. How can we try and make lemonade out of this bushel of lemons? What new local programming could we be investing in if there’s less coming from the national producers? How can we get out into the communities where we haven’t had the capacity in the past? We’re looking at all those opportunities,” Mazur says.
Nevada Public Radio is taking a similar approach. Craig Knight, general manager of Las Vegas-based NPR affiliate station KCEP Power 88.1 FM, wrote in an email that his station now “stands at a crossroads” as it explores “short and long-term strategies to sustain its mission.”
These efforts include ramping up local fundraising drives, bolstering its network of public and private partnerships and committing itself to digital expansion to bring more younger listeners into the fold. Knight tells the Weekly that listeners can expect to learn more details about this campaign by the time KCEP celebrates its 53rd anniversary on October 7.
Mazur, who says Vegas PBS reaches 86.6% of Nevada, stresses that the “transmission capacity is not going to be impacted in any way, shape or form.” While she may not have anticipated these cuts when she took over in 2020, her proactive leadership helped pad the coffers enough to keep them going for the foreseeable future.
“The market’s been good to us, we’ve had savings along the way, and the endowment has enough of a surplus to carry us through—which means we don’t have to react in panic,” Mazur says. “So while we absolutely need to recoup this money and find other funding sources, we do have the ability to be methodical and strategic about it.”
Still, Vegas PBS, Nevada Public Radio and their affiliates all say that public contributions from viewers and listeners are more important than ever.
“I’ve already received calls from old and new donors alike,” Mazur says. “This has really galvanized a lot of people and put a big spotlight on what’s in jeopardy of being lost.”
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