The Bleak Future at WLRH
WLRH, the public radio station in Huntsville, Alabama, may be entering a period of serious decline — and the early numbers are difficult to ignore.
In FY26 Q1 (October–December 2025), membership revenue fell 46.4% compared to the same quarter the previous year. Major‑donor revenue dropped 50%. These losses align directly with the station’s disaffiliation from NPR on October 1, 2025. And based on the January 20, 2025, meeting of the Alabama Education Television Commission (AETC), there is no indication that NPR programming will return. The Commission also took no action to affirm Alabama Public Television’s PBS affiliation.
To understand how WLRH arrived here, it’s necessary to look back at the Commission’s April 2025 meeting. According to the minutes, during the “Government Affairs and CPB and State Funding Update,” several commissioners expressed strong concern about NPR and PBS national leadership, citing dissatisfaction with their performance in Congressional hearings.
Immediately following that discussion, the minutes include a section titled “Programming Strategy and Planning,” which states:
“New team member Erich Buckner (WLRH General Manager) will explore local programming opportunities in Huntsville and support content development amid the shift towards discontinuing NPR availability on that station.”
This language makes clear that a bloc of commissioners opposed to NPR initiated the shift. The decision was not driven by cost, nor by listener input. Arguments that “WLRH listeners were never asked to step up and support the station” are compelling, but ultimately, miss the point. The NPR‑opposed commissioners simply did not want NPR on WLRH. That is a philosophical position — one more aligned with private radio than public service.
Which brings us to the present moment. When the likely consequences of dropping NPR were raised at the meeting — loss of audience, loss of membership, loss of underwriting — those commissioners offered little response. Even when the station’s revenue declines were presented later in the meeting, they showed no indication of reconsidering their strategy. The question now is how much time and money the Commission is willing to invest in WLRH before acknowledging that the approach is failing, and what their alternative plan might be.
The Huntsville community has its own work to do as well. While WLRH listeners are beginning to organize, no single entity has stepped forward with a viable proposal to operate the station as a full‑service public radio outlet. There is no committed leadership ready to assume responsibility, much less a business plan or governing structure.
Meanwhile, unless the Commission changes course or new leadership emerges from within the Huntsville community, WLRH risks becoming a case study in how public media can be weakened not by finances, but by governance.
NOTE: I’m sharing this analysis to help clarify what’s happening and why it matters for public‑service media. This post is offered in that spirit, not as a solicitation.