EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — KTEP Public Media, El Paso’s public radio station located at The University of Texas at El Paso, is calling on both loyal listeners and the greater El Paso community to help contribute to an emergency fundraising drive that the station will hold this weekend.
The fund drive will be held via 88.5 FM on Friday, Aug. 14, from 6 p.m. to midnight, and on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11 a.m. to midnight. The drive will include freeform music, new show previews, and community connection opportunities.
Anchor programs, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, will continue uninterrupted during the drive, according to KTEP.
KTEP’s goal is to raise $50,000 to help pay for its National Public Radio programming for fiscal year 2026, which they’re at risk of having to cut following the decision of President Donald Trump’s Administration to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
“Some people start their day off listening to Morning Edition and end their day listening to All Things Considered or Performance Today. Those programs most certainly are in danger of being lost,” said John Carrillo, the general manager for KTEP. “We’re a public radio station. We are the NPR affiliate here in El Paso.”
Carrillo said KTEP’s NPR programming was funded through a federal grant provided by CPB, which has since been eliminated with the passage of the Recissions Act of 2025, requested by Trump.
“Never in any of my wildest nightmares did I ever think that we would lose funding from the federal government?” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said they would have received the grant this fall to fund the station’s programming and other costs through FY 2026. He said the grant amounted to about $205,000 and made up 20 percent of the station’s operating budget.
However, Carrillo said their immediate focus is to make up funds to pay for their NPR licensing and programming, which costs about $60,000 to fund.
“The most pressing thing for me as a station manager is that we make up the funding for NPR,” Carrillo said.
People can support the station by visiting KTEP.org or givingto.utep.edu/KTEP.
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