Texas Public Radio claims it should continue receiving taxpayer funding because it provides vital news and emergency alerts that “others don’t” – but, when it comes to the devastating floods of July 4-5, just the opposite appears to be true.
The National Weather Service issued the first flash flood watch for heavily-hit Kerr County at approximately a quarter to one in the morning (12:41 a.m. local time) on Thursday, the day before the flood. By 11:03 a.m., more than ten hours later, Texas Public Radio (TPR) had not yet alerted its Facebook page readers of the danger.
But, it had made dubious claims in a post urging readers to lobby Congress to ensure it keeps receiving taxpayer funding:
“Texas Public Radio delivers what others don’t:
• Trusted news that keeps you informed
• Stories that celebrate South Texas voices
• Emergency alerts that keep our community safe
Now, the Senate is considering a plan to rescind the funding that makes it all possible. You can contact your Senators every day — and every message matters.
Protect your community’s voice. Protect public media. Click the link to take action.
Urge Congress: Don’t Claw Back Public Media Funding
Contact Congress Now!”
Meanwhile, private media outlets actually were keeping the local public informed of the flood threat and the National Weather Service emergency alerts warning about it.
At least three flood alerts were issued between Thursday’s 11:03 a.m. (TPR’s lobbying plea) and 8:05 p.m., when Texas Public Radio posted its first Facebook announcement of the flash flood warning.
At 1:14 a.m. Friday morning, a Flash Flood Warning reporting a “considerable” flood danger triggered Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio notifications, automatically interrupting regularly scheduled broadcasts.
Then, at 4:03 a.m. on Friday, July 4, the National Weather Service’s Flash Flood Warning was upgraded to a Flash Flood Emergency. Neither the emergency alert nor the earlier warning was reported on TPR’s Facebook or Instagram pages. Because Texas Public Radio has been inactive on X.com (formerly, Twitter) since 2023, followers were not warned of the floods via this popular social media platform. When the Emergency Alert was issued, TPR stations had just begun airing PBS’s national “Morning Edition” program, which runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
At 5:00 a.m., the National Water Center warned of widespread considerable and catastrophic flooding. A half-hour later, NWS issued a Flash Flood Emergency for the Guadalupe River, signaling a “large and deadly flood wave.”
There is no indication that the TPR local affiliate covering the flood region, KTXI, broke into its regular (and, in this case, national) programming to report on the local breaking news of the flood emergency – but, several private media radio stations in Texas did just that.
Calls and emails to TPR and KTXI for comment and confirmation were unsuccessful, prompting Media Research Center President David Bozell to send a letter to Texas Public Radio President and CEO Ashley Alvarado requesting details of the organization’s flood coverage.
“As an NPR affiliate and public broadcaster that receives significant subsidies from taxpayers, it is imperative that you assure the public that Texas Public Radio, KTXI and the other NPR affiliated stations in Texas provided the same public service as provided by the private radio stations,” Bozell explains in his letter:
“I ask that you send the Media Research Center audio files for all programs that ran on KTXI July 3-4, 2025. In addition, please provide any social media that the station posted connected to the National Weather Service alerts and warnings during that same time period.”
By 7:30 a.m. Friday, several private radio stations had posted reports about the National Weather Service emergency alert on social media and had begun conducting live interviews with the Kerrville County Police Department to provide timely updates on the emergency.
Local 94.3 Rev-FM, for example, broadcast a live interview with Kerrville Police Public Information Officer Sergeant Jonathan Lamb, who warned listeners about which areas were most dangerous and informed them of where they could go for shelter. In all, at least a half dozen radio stations contacted Lamb and conducted interviews to provide their listeners with flood information and updates.
In contrast, KTXI did not cut into its regular broadcast to conduct a live interview with a Kerrville police spokesperson and provide its listeners with “Emergency alerts that keep our community safe.”
While it posted video of the flood damage around 1:30 p.m., it wasn’t until 8:05 p.m. – nearly 19 hours after the 1:14 a.m. Flash Flood Warning – that Texas Public Radio posted a report looking back on the flood deaths, National Weather Service warnings, and news of the flood’s devastation on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
"NPR has hired million dollar lobbyists to try and convince Congress to keep funneling billion dollar earmarks their way. But the deadly Texas flooding has exposed one of NPR's main talking points to be a lie,” Media Research Center Vice President for Free Speech Dan Schneider said, refuting the Texas Public Radio’s lobbying post’s claim that it alone provides “Trusted news that keeps you informed” and “Emergency alerts that keep our community safe” that “others don’t”:
“In the middle of storm warnings, the local NPR affiliate in Kerr was posting to their social media followers that it alone provided emergency alerts and news. In fact, NPR was the only local radio station that wasn't."
This is a synopsis of how it unfolded in Texas:
1. It took NPR (through Texas Public Radio) 19 hours to post anything about the flooding on its social media pages after the National Weather Service posted its July 3 alert.
2. What was NPR/TPR doing in the interim? LOBBYING CONGRESS FOR $1.1 BILLION DOLLARS by asking its Texas listeners to call their Senators to vote against President Trump's Rescission Bill.
3. When the flood hit at 4:03 AM on July 4, instead of providing local news, the NPR affiliate in Kerrville instead aired "Morning Edition" out of Washington, DC. That day, listeners to NPR heard that the just-passed Reconciliation Bill was an "abomination" and that Trump is a liar. MRC has looked but found no evidence that Texas Public Radio interrupted its regularly scheduled programming to provide urgent advisories about the flood.
4. MRC investigators learned that 7 local private radio stations jumped into action on July 4th, breaking into their programming to interview the Kerrville Police Department chief information officer. He provided urgent advice to listeners to seek higher ground and provided updates throughout the day. BUT the NPR stations never reached out to him or the Kerrville Police Department for interviews.
5. The 7 private stations posted over 70 alerts on their social pages throughout the day, starting at 7:24 AM. It took Texas Public Radio 6 more hours before it posted its first advisory.
6. Reprising FEMA’s disgraceful actions during Hurricane Helene last September, Texas Public Radio also refused to provide any alerts to X users. It instead posted on the left-leaning Bluesky platform as well as Facebook and Instagram. NPR, Texas Public Radio and the NPR affiliates have boycotted X because Elon and Trump labeled them "government-funded media," which they are. In fact, protecting its taxpayer subsidy took priority over the National Weather Service Alerts on July 3, 2025.
