In The NoCo

What would federal funding cuts mean for local public media stations like KUNC?

By In The NoCo,

Published May 22, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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A photo of glass doors showing two radio station logos. They read "KUNC" and "The Colorado Sound." The door on the right has white lettering that says "Community Radio for Northern Colorado."

It's a precarious moment for public media. The Trump administration has declared it wants to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – which supports stations that carry programs from NPR and PBS.

If you’re wondering where all of that leaves a local station like KUNC or The Colorado Sound, we’re actually trying to figure that out too.

So today, we’re sharing what we know so far. In The NoCo’s Brad Turner spoke with Mike Arnold, the Chief Audience and Content Officer for KUNC and The Colorado Sound.

Last week, he and about 190 other leaders from NPR members stations around the country met in Washington, D.C. to talk about this moment of uncertainty for public radio. And they asked lawmakers to continue supporting public media.

Mike Arnold, a man wearing a dark gray sweater and brown-framed glasses, smiles in this candid photo — "Federal funding helps make sure that everybody, regardless of whether you have money or wherever you're located, has access to news, educational programming and cultural content," said Mike Arnold, Chief Audience and Content Officer for KUNC and The Colorado Sound.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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