Viewers Like You: 50 Years of Ozarks Public Broadcasting
Written by: Collin Langston
Photos by: Luke Chipley
Interview with: Rachel Knight
For those of us who grew up in the 2000s and 2010s, public media has always been synonymous with educational programming, including Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Arthur. However, over the past year, public media has been under a lot of scrutiny, especially from the U.S. government. On May 1, 2025, the Trump administration signed an executive order calling for all federal funding of public media, such as PBS and NPR, to be completely suspended. This has resulted in thousands of stations across the country struggling to survive and, on August 1, 2025, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced it’ll be closing its doors in January 2026. I interviewed Rachel Knight, the general manager at Springfield’s local station, Ozarks Public Broadcasting (OPB), to talk about its history, the impact of less federal funding, and what people can do to help support public media.
History
OPB’s humble beginnings started in 1974 with the founding of KSMU Radio. Initially, the radio station was established in a small residential house that was owned by Missouri State University and located on the other side of Grand Street and National Avenue. A year later, in 1975, Ozarks Public Television launched and was licensed to a community board at Drury University.
By the early 21st century, the television industry was rapidly transitioning from analog to digital and OPB was unable to afford the resources needed to make the transition. Fortunately, the station got some assistance from former Missouri State President John Keiser. “He was a big public media fan, really saw the value of public media, particularly as the university had been granted the statewide mission in public affairs,” Knight said. “He really understood how public media is such a part of public affairs and the university’s mission.” So, in 2001, Keiser brought KSMU Radio and Ozarks Public Television together by transferring the television license to Missouri State and moving their production offices into Strong Hall, where they’re still located today.
Impact of Less Federal Funding
The lack of federal funding and imminent closure of CPB has had a huge impact on OPB. According to Knight, the station generally receives around “$1.3 million from federal funding” during its fiscal year, which starts every July 1. 70% of the funding comes directly from the federal government, while the remaining 30% is provided on behalf of CPB. Unfortunately, when the decision to eliminate federal funding was finalized on July 18, 2025, OPB instantly lost all of its funding in one fell swoop.
As a result, the station has been forced to make some serious sacrifices in regard to its programming. “We will not be able to do everything that we have historically done without that revenue,” says Knight. “So what we’re trying to do is cut expenses and increase fundraising to try to close that gap. But with the elimination of some expenses, there will be things that folks have come to expect from us that we won’t be able to do anymore.”
What Can People Do to Help Support Public Media?
Despite these challenging setbacks, Knight argues that the Springfield community is the backbone of OPB, as evidenced by the reaction the day after the vote to suspend federal funding was passed. “When we came in on Friday morning, we already had web bins full of online gifts. The phones were ringing that whole day. And that really hasn't stopped since then,” Knight said. “We are hearing from a lot of people who are deeply concerned about, you know, the country’s moving away from investing in public media. And it is motivating a lot of people to support us.”
She also argues that supporting public media is important to maintaining a strong, healthy democracy. “Research shows us that there are strong correlations between the health of democracy and the health of public media in a society, because public media aims to increase people’s understanding of how their government works and increase people’s motivation to participate in government,” says Knight. “All those things that citizens have to do to keep democracies healthy, public media helps citizens be able to do those things.”
However, Knight maintains that the best way for people to support public media during these tough times is to support their local station. If you want to support Ozarks Public Broadcasting, you can help contribute by going to either ksmu.org or optv.org and consider donating to ensure that public media will continue to thrive and be supported by viewers like you.