" PUBLIC " AIRWAVES Clifford in the Doghouse? BY SARA DONNELLY

For the first time in a decade, a significant portion of government funding for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) is in danger, prompting PBS affiliates nationwide, including our own Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN), to brace for impact. An enormous $142.5 billion spending bill is scheduled to be debated in the US House of Representatives this week, which would cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) by $100 million, or roughly 25 percent, starting in October. CPB is responsible for divvying up tax dollars to PBS and its affiliate stations, like MPBN. Funding for PBS — which airs perennial faves like Sesame Street, Nova, and Frontline — has not been seriously challenged since 1995, when a Republican effort led by then-House speaker Newt Gingrich tried unsuccessfully to completely eliminate government support of public television altogether. Federal and state tax dollars account for roughly one third of PBS’s overall budget.

This bill represents the latest in a string of body blows which the beleaguered PBS has recently suffered — in February, Republican accusations that PBS programming has a "liberal bias" ushered in the resignation of network president Pat Mitchell; the network budget has dropped from $221.9 million in 2001 to $184.3 million in 2004; and PBS is bleeding underwriter funding in an increasingly competitive cable TV market.

Lou Morin, marketing and communications manager at MPBN, hopes the bill will be modified or killed before it touches PBS funding.

"This is clearly the biggest threat we’ve faced since the mid 1990s," says Morin. "There’s a whole lot of local programming that legitimately could be effected."

MPBN would lose 12 percent of its annual budget if the above bill were passed without amendment. Morin says the following shows would then be in danger — which could you live without?

• Bob the Builder, in which Bob and friends build stuff to make everyone’s day happy

• Capitol Connection, in which the Gov and other officials jam about local politics

• Clifford the Big Red Dog, in which Clifford and pals learn that good friends are what life is all about

• Clifford’s Puppy Days, in which we join Clifford in his early years before he grew freakishly huge

• Made in Maine, in which local novelties both human and inanimate are revealed

• Maine Watch, in which Charlotte Albright spotlights public affairs issues

• Postcards from Buster, in which a rabbit named Buster visits families around the globe (including a lesbian couple in Vermont — exotic!)

Read Dan Kennedy's NPR story from earlier this month by clicking here.