When the Power Fails, KMUD Doesn’t. Now Its Future Hangs in the Balance
KMUD Radio Station in Redway, Ca. [Photo by Matt LaFever]
For nearly four decades, KMUD has been the heartbeat of the Emerald Triangle — delivering news, music, and life-saving emergency alerts to Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties. In fire season, when cell towers fail and the internet vanishes, KMUD stays on the air. Radios still work. And KMUD still shows up.
But a new SFGATE article reveals that this vital rural radio station is now fighting for survival.
In the wake of the Rescissions Act of 2025 — a federal law slashing $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — KMUD has lost roughly 25% of its annual budget. Staff are already stretched to their limits. Volunteers keep the station running. And without that federal support, even the basics — like transmitter leases and breaking news coverage — may soon be out of reach.
The article, written by Matt LaFever, paints a vivid portrait of a station rooted in redwood country, powered by community, and depended on by those who live far from reliable service. It captures the voices of longtime programmers, emergency volunteers, and former staff who say KMUD isn’t just a station — it’s a friend, a companion, a lifeline.
📻 Read the full piece here: The voice of California’s redwood country is under attack
Note: This reporter is also a contributor to KMUD News, and Redheaded Blackbelt frequently collaborates with the KMUD News team.
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Link at story end is not correct.
https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/kmud-radio-funding-cuts-northern-california-20779294.php
Thank you. Fixed.
Some day people are going to be wondering, “What were people doing while they slashed public news funding, while they kidnapped innocent people and shipped them off to third countries, while they fired tens of thousands of civil servants, while they prepared to sell off National Parks, while they embraced Civil War era Confederate loser fort names? What were the actual citizens thinking as this happened around them?”
you’re not allowed to use the term “3rd world country”, according you the Amy Goodman rule book for progressives.
you can’t use the term “citizen” either.
it’s differentiates and that is discriminatory.
the proper term is “resident”
People constantly conducting their self-centered racist agenda by attempting to shame their fellow citzens, using terms like ” kidnapped innocent people” and “embraced Civil War era Confederate loser fort names”, is how Progressives squandered the good will that kept public news funded. What “they were thinking” was “why should the ever increasing taxes be wrung from us to fund a never ending attack on us ?”
Liberals have long since conducted their politics like a self-righteous war against their own home. Two faced and arrogant, this whole mess ran away with any vestiges of common sense when they supported Biden. That there’s now a reaction is just what liberals agitated for. They just never thought it wouldn’t go like they wanted.
epstein
It would not be the least surprising to find Trump and Epstein played well with each other. After all Trump was a notorious rich playboy in his day and, as such, Epstein’s bread and butter.
But what liberals and Trump himself have in common is that both are deluded about his importance and the effect of some new disclosure tarnishing him beyond repair.
Liberals have always personalized Trump’s appeal to the far right and Trump because, like liberals, he believes it too. The right will rationalize ditching Trump as soon as they think they have another viable choice. And they do have such a choice right now.
Liberals will apparently just keep beating a dead horse.
Just more lies and misinformation about President Trump. Americans are sick and tired of lies from the left.
…..Says a seeming supporter the BIGGEST LIAR in modern political history! lol!!
Yes, telling the truth and naming names…..a true liberal conspiracy
Truly liberals have real problems with telling the difference between human nature and conspiracies. They think that people reacting defensively to insults they heap on their favorite targets is a conspiracy. A Trump conspiracy.
But it’s easy for others to see the difference, so, no, it’s not a liberal conspiracy to know that liberals have do not value civility in themselves no matter how they condemn Trump for his lack of it. And define emotion as “truth”. It’s just their human nature
Liberals and the left have been on a race to the ethical and moral bottom for decades. It’s time to throw them out.
In case you didn’t notice, Liberals didn’t support Biden.
Many did plug their noses and vote for him in 2020.
Many also opted to not do this again (for Harris- pretty much the same) in 2024.
Well maybe people did the same for Trump and liberals should stop with all the MAGA stereotyping if someone disagrees with them. The problem is not which extremists to support but the extremists attacking moderates for not being extreme enough.
I think the problem is only having two candidates to choose from.
Half of the Democratic constituency wants their party to be more progressive.
I know there are also plenty of conservatives who are fed up with Trump and MAGA.
Wrong. Conservatives love President Trump…
No, most people who are voting for Democrats want the party to be born moderate. It’s just that those with the most outrageous positions are the loudest and make for the best news coverage.
Well I suppose on issues of economic and environmental protection many on the left do want the Democrats to be more progressive. But a lot of people are really turned off by the social justice stuff.
Of course they did. They recognized an intellectual equal and embraced his laser like focus.
Well said Yabut
I concur. Well said.
Here’s what you should be concerned about:
https://calmatters.org/health/2025/07/planned-parenthood-california-defunded/
Soon the SHCHD will want more taxes…
I might have listened to FM radio once, but not since about 1999…
It definitely shows
Doing the same thing as the good citizens of Germany while they were legalizing a dictator and rounding up the jews….nothing. Too much work and you can get hurt or killed…
That’s exactly what the left did with Obama the Liar In Chief…
Couple of corrections needed: they are not “public servants, they’re bureaucrats, they were not “innocent people”, they’re convicted felons, they are not “selling off National Parks”, they’re selling of 1.2 million acres of the 246 million acres under BLM control.
Where did you get the information for your post?
How many innocent people have been arrested and deported? I think I heard of this happening to someone.
If it has happened to even a single person then we need to take it seriously. And if you are referring to illegal immigrants being deported as “kidnapped innocent people” then it’s a really disgusting thing that you’re doing.
Jeeze Louise, all you need is Starlink and a tiny Generator…
KMUD is always suffering from something or other…
“We are cool, give us money”…
If you need your little radio station, you might have to pay the bills…
A few terra-bytes of offline storage and you have all the tracks, the only thing of value is local commentary and personalities, they can push syndicates digital content like the rest of the people who are still in this communications hustle. Fm is beyond overdue for reuse of spectrum, the only reason is exist is cars but a media player in a csr with the ssd full of tracks is the way to go, as far as podcasts, im unsure of the future viability of local fm podcasters, especially if the interested and special friends are no longer so casual about the depth of friendly pockets.
That’s great advice.
Buh….buh…but Musk is bad…..
Surprisingly…it costs money to produce news.
and report it! 🙂
I will send you $100 on the 1st…
I used to run the printing press and copy camera, 50 years ago.
You have always been a generous supporter of RHBB. Thank you! But I think it is unfair to criticize KMUD for requesting help to pay for expenses. No one is getting rich.
Cheese Louise, take a look below:
STARLINK IS DOWN
https://kymkemp.com/2025/07/24/when-the-power-fails-kmud-doesnt-now-its-future-hangs-in-the-balance/#comment-1852349
STARLINK IS DOWN
They all go down eventually.
It’s all true.
It was off for almost 100 minutes… Out of the last 4 years…
350 down, 26 up…
Fuck FM.
FM is not for you, that’s fine. Some of us living “in the sticks” have realized the necessity and value.
I love the “support independent journalism” by having the government fund them mentality. taking money from the entity that regulates you is the opposite of independent.
I am more worried about cuts to healthcare at our tiny hospital with the feds cutting funding across the board. KMUD is the least of my worries, never listen to it, too much opinionated talking.
If all your credit cards are maxed out and you can barely make your mortgage payment each month. Are you really worried about your hulu Subscription?
Radio…I still have enough cassettes in my truck to keep holding out for quite some time.
And your cassettes, do they tell you where the fire is, what the supervisors said, which highway is closed due to an accident?
I always check with the RHBB for that information. Right at my fingertips.
KMUD came in very handy when we had these massive fires a few years back. They are excellent at providing up to date local information on emergencies for our communities storms, earthquakes and fires. That may all be gone and you are on your own in the next emergency.
There are apps for that now. And this site too. I still fondly remember Manny Machado of channel 3 news cranking up the mobile van to give local updates after one earthquake that widely shut down power. I had a generator but no clue how bad the situation was. It was a real relief to get those reports. But KIEM doesn’t have a mobile van any longer either. And there are apps for that too.
During power outages, lots of people don’t have generators, but they have radios.
Cell phones too.
Do you even understand how batteries work? What is your inane hatred of radio? Where did it touch you?
A Generac generator certainly comes in handy…Runs off a propane tank.
It’s not the work or product it’s the infrastructure which is many many years old.
Starlink just came back on. A cell signal is five miles away. It’s good to have different forms of informing the public when there is an emergency.
A decentralized peer to peer data network is what we need. Fidonet over Lora ?
🙂 you date yourself lol
Finally, the USDA is moving half its D.C. staff to guess where?? That’s right, they’re getting relocated where agriculture occurs. What a concept. Bye, bye to the D.C. 37% cost of living “adjustment”. Bye, bye to D.C. cocktail parties and the high life, and hello Salt Lake City. This dept. has 4600 employees in the capital. Yeah that’s right——–4600.
Defund the whole thing and start over from the bottom up, Actual grassroots instead of that being a code word for massive botnet of political action funded by ngo dirty money. This is how I would choose to see it happen if somehow I became important.
Live, breaking
Starlink down LIVE: Elon Musk’s satellite internet suffers worldwide blackout https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/starlink-internet-down-live-updates-35614313
It eventually happens to all the carriers. The wonders of computer science.
It lasted 1 hour, 40 minutes. I deleted some photos while waiting…
OH! Dude, PGE Residential Storage Initiative GAVE me a Tesla Backup Battery.
Installed, and free… Had to wait a year, but here it is!
So I don’t need that 2200 Watt Generator any more…
As the Chick said, as we landed at Kona:
“Look at those swells! I can’t wait to surf”…
Emergency Services and Law Enforcement use RADIO for communications for some reason, yes?