Alamosa's public radio station prepares for a future without federal funds
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ALAMOSA, Colo. — Gerald Rodriguez, the general manager and news director of KRZA, typed rapidly at his office keyboard, writing a letter to the public radio station’s donors:
"As you may know, KRZA recently lost all of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which accounted for about half of our annual income. This unexpected loss has put us in a serious financial crisis and is threatening the future of the station."
Rodriguez’s efforts to secure donations is a response to the Trump administration’s decision to rescind more than $1 billion in previously allocated funds for the CPB, an independent nonprofit that manages and distributes government funding to public media stations across the country.
KRZA, an NPR affiliate in Alamosa, was set to receive approximately $100,000 from the CPB this October for the 2026 fiscal year before President Donald Trump signed the rescission bill. Historically, CPB accounts for around 50% of KRZA’s revenue.
Rodriguez said that the money they have now will only last the station until the end of December, and they are planning the budget for 2026 with no funding from CPB, which is shuttering at the end of September.
“We had four people working here, two full time, two part time. One…we already had to let go,” Rodriguez said.
Video: Chelsea Casabona, Rocky Mountain PBS
The laid-off worker was Dannette Jacquez-Avila, a founding member of the station who worked at KRZA for 41 years. Once the community engagement coordinator and PSA director, she now volunteers for the station and will be brought on in a contract capacity during busy events.
“The five women that started KRZA, their belief was to be able to educate and preserve the [Spanish] language and also entertain with the programming and the music that was going to be aired at KRZA. So I was very impressed with that,” Jacquez-Avila said about first joining the station in 1984.
Elaine Salazar was the first station manager, and she recruited Pat Stanford to run a radio program that reported on Central American affairs. In the 1980s, Alamosa and surrounding cities were populated with immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
The Colorado Migrant Council, a nonprofit advocacy group that existed from 1961 to1980, fought for the rights of the immigrants in Alamosa, many of whom worked on farms and endured difficult conditions. The building that currently houses KRZA previously housed the Colorado Migrant council until the nonprofit shuttered in 1980, around the same time KRZA first went on the air.
“The whole reason that KRZA got started is it was a group of Hispanic women that wanted to get on the air and talk about different kind of stories and different kind of news and issues in general that were happening with the Hispanic community,” said Rodriguez.
KRZA Community Radio first went on the airwaves in October of 1985. The station’s signature show is “A las Ocho,” a news program that plays at 8:00 in the morning, and repeats at 8:00 in the evening. It has been on the air since the station first went live. The program includes information on local events, interviews with community members, weather alerts and other local news.
KRZA has undergone multiple changes since its inception in 1984. The station used to end its broadcast at 9:00 p.m. Today, the radio runs 24 hours a day. The station moved away from their coverage of migrant farm workers, and focuses more on spotlighting community events like free food for unhoused people and veterans, interviews with school board members, and public announcements like free distribution of backpacks and school supplies.
Despite unprecedented federal funding cuts to the station, KRZA feels supported by their community during this financially turbulent time.
“One thing I've seen is, a lot of people, a lot of our listeners, responding to us,” said Stanford. “In addition to that, a lot of people who don't even listen to KRZA have been making contributions.”
In Denver, Kyle Clark at 9NEWS started a fundraiser for KRZA and Durango’s KSUT to help fill their funding gaps. A national directory of radio stations, including KRZA, was also compiled for donors to “adopt a station” — the fundraiser outlines the funding deficit of each station and a link to donate.
While Stanford and Rodriguez are grateful for the financial contributions from their listeners, and the national support of public radio, they acknowledged that it is not enough to fill the CPB funding gap at this time.
“But that really makes me feel good. It really does,” Stanford said. “It tells me that radio in particular have real meaning in people's lives.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.