• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, April 9, 2009 9:15 AM

Some National Public Radio member stations fear that NPR budget cuts might make it harder for them to bring in corporate underwriting and listener donations. The concern is that national cutbacks will hurt the quality of marquee public radio shows "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," which typically bring in the lion's share of funds.

Currently, local station fund drives raise money for the stations themselves, although some of the money goes toward dues to NPR for its programming. But there has been a suggestion that member stations hold fund drives directly for NPR, which has gotten many station managers steaming mad. "We are trying our best just to stay above water here," says Alan Chartock, general manager of a local New York station.

Management is trying to keep thing calm. "I see NPR's role as not to dominate and take over the relations local stations have with their listeners. It's to be an enabler of that relationship," says NPR President Vivian Schiller.

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