Peltola calls public radio ‘life and death’ in Alaska, but technology has changed since the last century

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 21, 2026 – Democrat US Senate candidate Mary Peltola is turning taxpayer funding for public broadcasting into a campaign issue, accusing Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of “abandoning Alaska” by supporting cuts approved by Congress last year.

“Public radio is life and death in Alaska,” Peltola said in an Aug. 21 video and related social media posts. “It’s how we know if it’s safe to hunt or fish, how we navigate deadly weather, and how communities receive lifesaving emergency alerts. Dan Sullivan clawing back the funding our stations rely on isn’t leadership. It’s abandoning Alaska.”

Public radio remains popular in Alaska, particularly in rural communities, and local stations provide news, entertainment, cultural programming, and community announcements. But Peltola’s assertion that it is a matter of “life and death” treats Alaska’s communications system as though little has changed since the days when a battery-powered radio was often a village’s principal connection to the outside world.

Starlink and other satellite providers have over 12,000 satellites serving Alaska, The constellation provides widespread coverage across Alaska, including remote and northern areas),  with ongoing launches into polar orbits specifically to boost capacity and speeds for high-latitude users.

In short, the technology has changed dramatically since public broadcasting started in Alaska in the last century. Most Alaskans now carry mobile phones capable of receiving emergency notifications directly from federal, state and local authorities. Wireless Emergency Alerts can be transmitted automatically to compatible phones in a targeted geographic area without requiring users to subscribe, download an application or listen to a particular station.

Those alerts are part of the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, which distributes warnings through multiple channels—not only radio and television, but also mobile phones and other communications networks. Alaska has tested emergency messages simultaneously through the broadcast Emergency Alert System and the mobile Wireless Emergency Alert system.

Weather forecasts, marine warnings and severe-weather advisories are available directly from the National Weather Service through phones, websites, applications, marine radios and satellite communications. Hunting and fishing regulations are published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and can be accessed online, downloaded in advance or obtained in printed form.

But being useful, interesting, or entertaining is different than being the sole barrier between life and death.

Alaskans traveling beyond cellular coverage have long relied on VHF radios, satellite phones, personal locator beacons, emergency beacons and, increasingly, satellite messaging through ordinary smartphones. Hunters, fishermen and mariners are not supposed to depend on hearing a public-radio broadcast as their only safety plan.

Peltola’s argument also blurs the distinction between public broadcasting and emergency communications. Government agencies can issue emergency alerts whether or not a community’s radio programming is produced by an NPR affiliate. Congress could also support rural warning infrastructure or tribal communications directly without financing the entire national public-broadcasting structure and its news and entertainment programming.

Congress voted in July 2025 to rescind $1.1 billion previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Sullivan supported the rescission package, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski opposed it and unsuccessfully offered amendments intended to preserve funding for rural stations.

Sullivan has also supported a separate funding stream for tribal public-radio stations and has continued working to include money for that program in the Interior Department budget. That detail was absent from Peltola’s accusation.

The debate ultimately is not whether Alaskans enjoy or appreciate public broadcasting. Clearly, many do. The question is whether taxpayers must continue financing it—and whether a vote to reduce that subsidy can honestly be characterized as abandoning the state.

By declaring public radio itself to be “life and death,” Peltola appears to be taking a popular source of news and entertainment and elevating it into an indispensable public-safety service. That is so last century.