SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The free broadcast of high school sports tournaments and emergency weather alerts are in jeopardy under Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed $3.6 million cut in South Dakota Public Broadcasting funding, an SDPB official said.
“If we take a cut of that magnitude one of the things that we would lose would be high school sports,” said Ryan Howlett, the chief executive officer of Friends of SDPB. “We wouldn’t have the resources to cover them…”
SDPB broadcasts high school activities in partnership with the South Dakota High School Activities Association. The SDHSAA wants not just football or basketball but wrestling and other sports covered as well, Howlett said. In addition, SDPB covers fine arts activities because that is also the desire of the SDHSAA.
While other media may pick up high school football and basketball tournaments, “the rest of it will become an online volleyball thing where the citizens of South Dakota will pay $9.99,” Howlett said. “But cheer and dance and gymnastics if you can’t go to that event, you will not ever see it. And the fine arts events will be only ever in person and there will not be coverage of those things.”
Covering cheer or dance or fine arts isn’t financially viable for other media, it’s only viable for a non-profit like public TV, Howlett said.
How does South Dakota public broadcasting compare?
During her budget address on Tuesday, Noem said state funding for SDPB was out of line compared with the national average.
“Currently, South Dakota has the 3rd highest per-capita funding of public broadcasting of any state in the nation,” Noem said. “We’ve been paying more than double the national average.”
SDPB received about $5.5 million in state funding for fiscal year 2025. SDPB is made up of 11 TV stations and 12 radio stations with 52 towers across the state. The $5.5 million is slightly less than half of the SDPB budget of $12 million, Howlett.
The Current, a publication about public media, listed the state’s per capita amount at $4.88, which is higher than many other states. The Current list includes states with combined public TV and public radio and those without combined TV and radio
However, comparing per capita funding for public broadcasting can be difficult. Some states do not combine public TV and public radio. Others have cities that help fund specific public TV or radio stations. Some states have public radio stations based at colleges where the coverage is very local.
For example, the Current listed Iowa’s per capita at $2.57 per capita with a fiscal year 2024 state funding of $7.9 million. Iowa PBS has nine high-power digital transmitters and eight translators across Iowa. Iowa PBS does not include Iowa Public Radio.
South Dakota is comparable to seven states, Howlett said. “There are eight states with generally larger-sized (public) TV and radio,” he said. It would be more fair and accurate to compare South Dakota’s state funding to those eight states, he said.
Some of those states are Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia and Nebraska. South Dakota is second to last in funding of those states, Howlett said.
A financial statement covering 2023 and 2022 said the state of Alabama appropriated about $6.2 million in 2023 and about $5.1 million in 2022.
The Current said Alabama provided about $10 million in FY25 for a per capita rate of $1.86.
The per capita rate for South Dakota can be higher because the population is lower in South Dakota than other states.
It’s also more costly to provide service in rural areas and much of South Dakota is rural, Howlett said.
Emergency alerts, local programming also at risk with a big cut
If one funding source is cut, SDPB would be forced to make cuts and shift national and local donor funding to provide certain services, Howlett said.
SDPB provides locals programs such as “Dakota Life,” “South Dakota Focus,” and “In the Moment.” It’s also had a long standing partnership with the Healing Words Foundation for the “On Call with the Prairie Doc” series.
The hours of local program from SDPB are at risk with Noem’s proposed budget cut, Howlett said.
The $5.5 million from the state covers the engineers and infrastructure needed to operate and maintain the 23 TV and radio stations as well as the towers, Howlett said.
“The most expensive thing we do is maintain the network,” Howlett said.
The network allows for local programming to be broadcast on public TV and public radio.
But one service that SDPB hasn’t talked much about is, the statewide 24/7 operation network and SDPB’s role in the state’s early alert system (EAS), Howlett said.
SDPB issues warnings and alerts statewide in cooperation with the state’s Office of Emergency Management or Division of Criminal Investigation and others in the statewide emergency operations plan.
A radio station in a small town may no longer be staffed 24 hours a day for seven days a week or have limited staffing, SDPB can issue the tornado warning in that area. The voice those local listeners here will be an SDPB staff member sharing the warning, Howlett said.
If SDPB can’t provide the service or the maintenance of towers, what will the state do? Howlett asked.
“It would have to negotiate independent deals with radio and TV across the state,” Howlett said in his own answer.
That could work in populated areas such as Sioux Falls or Rapid City but what about rural areas, he said.
“This is a network established 50 to 60 years ago,” Howlett said. “You can’t just undo it in one budget. It’s not fair to northwestern South Dakota (for example:) to away emergency service alerts and high school sports.”
While SDPB also receives money through the National Corporation for Public Broadcast and raised about $2.6 million from the Friends of SDPB donors in FY25, a severe cut in state funding, still means SDPB would fall short in overall funding, Howlett said. CPS funding hinges on state funding and donations, so Howlett said, if state funding declines and donations do not keep up, then CPS funding may decrease.
Also in danger is the daily coverage of meetings during each legislative session. Howlett said then-Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard established this program to provide media coverage independent of any state agency to serve as a watchdog.
