Joanna Kale, chief executive officer of Wyoming Public Television, told the Joint Appropriations Committee that the station has suffered a substantial, permanent loss of federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting support and urged the legislature to consider both ongoing and one‑time help to preserve operations and public safety infrastructure.

Kale said WPTV’s core state funding is approximately $3.3 million and that roughly 90 percent of that amount supports salaries and benefits for the station’s Wyoming‑based workforce and towers that relay emergency alerts. She told lawmakers that CPB funding, historically about $1.5 million a year, is permanently gone and that the loss has forced the station to seek state replacement funds to sustain operations.

Kale framed WPTV’s requests as public‑safety and transparency priorities. "Does Wyoming want to remain in control of its own public safety signal and its own public story?" she asked the committee, urging investment in a statewide emergency‑alert backbone maintained across more than 50 tower sites. WPTV requested a one‑time equipment modernization package of $3,600,000 to replace aging tower and transmission equipment and prevent failures when the public needs alerts most. The governor recommended this one‑time modernization request.

Kale also described WPTV’s audience reach and fundraising position: the station operates a statewide broadcast network supported by 50 towers, cable and satellite carriage and claims strong digital viewership (tens of millions of digital views cited), with roughly 10 percent of programming locally produced. Kale said the station has built an endowment and a foundation but cannot immediately replace lost federal revenue through private fundraising.

In Q&A, committee members explored whether FEMA or state homeland security funds could cover tower modernization. Kale replied that direct FEMA support to stations is uncommon and that recent federal grant opportunities were denied; she said WPTV pursued grants through CPB and other federal programs but did not secure enough federal modernization support. The CEO said the tower system is a publicly accessible backup to digital distribution and that preserving both broadcast and digital channels is important for remote areas.

What’s next: The committee asked WPTV to update certain budget tables and pledged follow‑up on potential federal and state grant opportunities. The station’s requests remain under consideration in markup.