A small public radio station in rural Western North Carolina faces low morale as the Trump administration seeks to strip federal funding, but management is adamant residents who rely on the local outlet dont have to worry about it shuttering as a result.President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month instructing theCorporation for Public Broadcastingand other federal agencies "to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS." Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR), the home of NPR in Western North Carolina,receives roughly $300,000 from the CPB on an annual basis.BPR CEO and general manager Ele Ellis said the money would start to dry up when its new fiscal year begins on October 1 if the Trump administration gets its way."We would start to feel it almost as soon as it happens," Ellis told Fox News Digital.PBS, NPR BLAST 'BLATANTLY UNLAWFUL' TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER HALTING PUBLIC FUNDING, VOW CHALLENGES"We would not shut down," she continued. "I want to be clear that we would not shut down, but I think raising $300,000 a year is a very, very hard thing."BPR consists of 22 staffers with eight of them working in the newsroom, and all of their livelihoods are at stake as the Trump administration has targeted public media when attempting to cut back on government spending. Ellis said employees are focused on doing their jobs, but Trumps executive order is certainly at the top of everyones mind."Its definitely impacting morale. They know that now we have to raise $300,000 that we didnt have to raise before and that affects people," Ellis said."But I will also say, I think our staff is incredibly appreciative of our listeners and members and we are working hard to make sure they know whats on the table and trying to get their help," she added. "Our last drive did very well."Other local NPR outlets have made fundraising pleas in direct response to the Trump administration's actions. Stations receive community service grants from the CPB twice a year, and the funds for 2025 have already been distributed, but the money for fiscal year 2026 that starts on October 1 has not yet been parceled out.PBS CHIEF WARNS CUTTING FEDERAL MONEY WILL 'DEVASTATE' LOCAL STATIONS AS WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO PULL FUNDINGBPR serves 14 counties in Western North Carolina, including some rural areas where citizens rely on the station for local news and emergency information. The station was critical last year during Hurricane Helene, when much of the region was devastated by record rainfall, historic flooding and widespread power outages.While BPR typically airs NPR content for much of the day, it is able to quickly pivot when residents of the 14 counties it serves need critical information. Ellis believes Americans in larger cities who support public media being stripped of funding might not understand the consequences, which include the emergency system to notify residents a tornado or other natural disaster is looming, or when localized information is critical."One of the things that I think people dont realize about the CPB is that it's the backbone of all of that emergency services," Ellis said.WHITE HOUSE URGES CONGRESS TO CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR NPR, PBSEllis explained that some people relied on hand-crank radios in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to find information about the devastating storm when power was out across the area."During Hurricane Helene we went live for days," Ellis said. "Right now, we are still doing a lot of coverage about Hurricane Helene relief and the aftermath. Were doing it very well, and were doing it locally."She is concerned that if the small group of BPR employees are forced to dedicate resources to raising the $300,000 it would lose from the CPB, they would have fewer means to focus on journalism and provide vital information to the Americans who rely on the station. "Thats why public radio is here we were the source where people listened every day to hear the local meetings saying where could get clean, potable water. We were the source telling people where you could get food and aid," Ellis said."Going after local newsrooms when there is so little local news anyway seems like the wrong thing to be doing," she added.Ellis, who took the reins at BPR in April after working at Milwaukees NPR for five years, is well aware that Trump and many of his supporters believe NPR is too partisan, or even "woke," but she doesnt believe its a fair assessment of the stations coverage."I disagree that its liberal," she said."Its hard, because we do hours and hours and hours of coverage and people hear one thing or one hour and dont hear the other side, the other hour, or the next day," she said. "That always makes me sad."ROUGHLY 180 NPR MEMBER STATIONS COULD SHUTTER IF GOVERNMENT FUNDING IS CUT OFF: REPORTEllis believes the Trump administration and its supporters are irked over "national politics," such as when NPR famously failed to cover Hunter Bidens scandalous laptop leading up to the 2020 election.NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who was named CEO of NPR in 2024 and was not with the taxpayer-backed outlet at the time the laptop story first broke, has famously conceded that her organization missed the mark in its lack of serious coverage pertaining to the laptop story.Veteran NPR editor Uri Berliner also detailed his now-former employers "absence of viewpoint diversity" in a stunning 2024 piece about liberal groupthink invading the Washington, D.C., newsroom that rocked themedia industry.But while the laptop ordeal and Berliners claims that both vexed conservatives are national issues, Ellis said local stations are the ones who are going to suffer."When [critics] really listen to what local stations do, and I think BPR is a really good example of this, were doing coverage that is important to the 14 counties that we cover. And that coverage is not about the things that theyre complaining about," Ellis said.Ellis recently penned a piece for BPRs website urging listeners to stand by the station with a charitable donation, noting that a loss of funding would "devastate" many rural outlets and underserved communities."Research has also shown that the loss of local journalism leads to increases in corruption and decreases in voter turnout, civic engagement, and government efficiency. It also leads directly to increased polarization and erodes the shared identity that helps make community possible," she wrote.Meanwhile, as the Trump administration cracks down on excess spending, Ellis said that local public radio receives less than $1 per year from each taxpayer in America."Its so interesting to me that people feel like this is a tax issue when there are so many other things that we pay taxes for that cost so much more, and what were talking about is making sure that you can hear a tornado siren," Ellis told Fox News Digital.Fox News Digitals Bradford Betz and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.