Can Appalshop, the 'voice of the mountains,' survive Trump cuts?

Sweet Tater sat in front of a bank of computer screens, humming and singing as she chose which song to play next during her two-hour DJ stint at WMMT 88.7 FM on a Friday morning in November.

“Oh this is a great one,” she said, as she clicked and dragged Ella Jenkins with the Good Will Spiritual Choir’s “Old Time Religion,” onto her playlist at WMMT’s studio in Whitesburg. The semi-retired community college professor is a fan of old-time, traditional American music.

So are many people in the WMMT listening area, which stretches from Red River Gorge in Kentucky to parts of North Carolina.

Sweet Tater’s DJ blocks are some of the most well-liked and listened-to programs on the community radio station, said Jared Hamilton, the interim general manager.

“I like songs that have a little bit of a funny side to it,” said Sweet Tater, whose government name is Zelma Forbes. “I mean, love songs are just awful,” she said laughing.

WMMT — sometimes called by other names, including possum radio, real people radio and the voice of the mountains — celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025.

But whether it and “Sweet Tater’s Tubers” radio program will survive another 40 years is now in question.

WMMT and its parent organization, Appalshop, an arts group that focuses on preserving and promoting Eastern Kentucky arts and culture, are struggling after being hit by a series of federal arts funding cuts, which wiped out more than $1 million in funding in just 12 months. Appalshop’s budget is a little less than $3 million.

Some of that money, like many of President Donald Trump’s administration cuts, was partially restored during the first year-plus of his first year of his second term.

But groups from which Appalshop has been promised future funding, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services are now in peril.

And it’s not just Appalshop and WMMT that face financial unknowns. Other arts organizations, including Kentucky Humanities, which had all of its federal funding yanked, are also facing rocky, uncertain futures after federal arts funding was axed or severely reduced in 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s push to cut federal spending.

Kentucky Education Television, the state’s public television network, had to cut 20% of its positions in September after losing about 13% of its overall budget due fundings cuts and closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Appalshop Executive Director Tiffany Sturdivant is trying to remain optimistic but realistic in the face of daunting financial pressures.

“It’s been a tough year for Appalshop,” said Sturdivant. “We are really, really fortunate to have private foundations that have supported us through these times. Appalshop has been around for 60 years so we are no stranger to hard times.”

Will WMMT survive with no federal funding?

WMMT moved into its downtown Main Street location, across the street from the Letcher County Public Library, in 2025.

The new digs were supposed to be a reboot for the community radio station known for its eclectic mix of music. In July 2022, flooding in downtown Whitesburg wrecked WMMT’s studio and Appalshop’s home in downtown Whitesburg.

Powered almost exclusively by volunteer DJs, WMMT is proudly not commercial radio, Hamilton said.

Its diversity in its programming is its strength and draw, Hamilton said.

People can tune in on Fridays to “Sweet Tater’s Tubers” from 10 a.m. to noon for older, American music. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. is “Easy E’s Rock and Roll show”, hosted by Eli Cornett, a high school student from Jenkins.

Cornett started as a DJ when he was 11, and he has been hosting a radio program at WMMT for three years. He said being a volunteer DJ made him a more confident person.

“I’ve always been a very talkative person and a people person, but I believe that being a DJ and being on WMMT has made me stronger as far as public speaking, and other things of that nature,” he said.

Cornett said WMMT is a valuable resource for others, too.

“It gives a voice to people and places that are often overlooked and overshadowed,” Cornett said. He came up with his DJ name in a panic in the parking lot before his audition three years ago. At the time he was not familiar with the late rapper Eazy E.

“About a year later, I discovered the work of Eazy E and was very glad I picked the name,” Cornett said.

Forbes came up with the moniker Sweet Tater because it rhymed with what she didn’t want to be known for.

“I don’t wanna be no agitator and I don’t wanna be an old dictator,” Forbes said. “I want to be a Sweet Tater.”

During WMMT past fundraising or pledge drives, Forbes spoofed her Sweet Tater persona by playing other characters like “Frenchie Fry” and “Tater Tot,” who yodeled when WMMT hit certain fundraising goals.

“Frenchie Fry and Tater Tot are sisters, of course,” Forbes said.

Scarlett Gilley grew up listening to WMMT, and now works as a DJ Katy Ray.

“It’s real people radio,” Gilley said. She has family members who serve in the military overseas. They frequently tune in online to hear Eastern Kentucky accents.

“People love to hear our voices,” Gilley said.

During the coronavirus pandemic and devastating flooding of 2022, WMMT became a lifeline for people looking for information, Hamilton said. And it provides comfort to people who are lonely, isolated and may not have strong social connections.

Its variety of programming also means at any given hour on any given day, people will hear something different, Sturdivant said.

“That’s why people say it’s the greatest little radio station in the world,” Sturdivant said.

Scrambling to find new funding source

Hamilton wants to expand WMMT’s footprint by beefing up its public affairs programming, upping collaboration with area emergency management services and bringing more innovations to the 40-year-old station. Hamilton would like to see WMMT become a multimedia presence over multiple platforms.

But first on WMMT’s to-do list is raising money to remain on the air.

WMMT received more than 30% of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has now been eliminated. The radio station now needs to raise an additional $132,000 a year to make up for that lost funding, said Brandon Jent, director of development and strategic partnerships for Appalshop.

There is good news.

In late 2025, the Public Media Bridge Fund, a national nonprofit, announced it had awarded WMMT more than $112,000, about $20,000 shy of its annual Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant.

Still, WMMT will have to find ways to make up for the loss of that money going forward, Sturdivant said. Annual allocations from the Public Media Bridge Fund is not a given.

“We are looking at future with no CPB,” Sturdivant said. “ We are just really baring down to figure how do we finetune streams of income and streams of revenue.”

The future of Appalshop

Appalshop started in 1969 as a community film workshop. Its goal was to teach young people in Whitesburg and Eastern Kentucky how to use audio and film equipment. It also wanted to reclaim the narrative of Eastern Kentucky.

For too long, stories about Eastern Kentucky focused largely on poverty. What those national stories missed was the area’s strong community bonds and Eastern Kentucky’s rich culture of arts and music, Appalshop founders have long said.

Appalshop has many famous fans.

Wendell Berry, the celebrated Kentucky author, said of Appalshop: “No institution has done more to enhance the self-awareness and self-respect of Eastern Kentucky and all of Appalachia.”

Nick Offerman, an actor famous for his role on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” said more communities need an Appalshop.

“If every community had an Appalshop, we would all be much better at exchanging handshakes and recipes,” Offerman said.” They are a beacon of decency and forward-thinking in our country’s continued quest for equal human rights.”

Appalshop has grown and changed over the years, but filmmaking is still a core part of its mission, Sturdivant said.

So is preserving the cultural history of Eastern Kentucky. Its archives, which were in a climate-controlled vault, were submerged during the July 2022 floods.

Those archives are full of historical treasures — reels of film, original photographic negatives, audio recordings, writings, sheet music, instruments and crafts. Appalshop was still working to preserve and save some of what was lost in the flooding when it was notified that one of the main grants for that program from the Institute of Museum and Library Services was going to be terminated.

It was finally reinstated, but the future of funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts is still in question.

Appalshop has had to make tough decisions on what parts of that archive it can save with the money it has, Sturdivant said. It’s scrambling for private funding to make up for those losses.

“We have had the support of these incredible institutions, and I don’t think that anyone could have predicted the day those funds would not be available,” Sturdivant said.

In addition to more aggressive fundraising, Sturdivant and Appalshop are working to streamline operations to offset losses of that federal funding. Last year, it had to lay off Roger May, who had served in various positions at Appalshop. May has been the only staff member laid off to date. Appalshop has roughly 20 part-time and full-time employees.

But Appalshop also celebrated some big milestones in 2025, despite financial turbulence. It was able to move WMMT into its new studios in 2025. It launched a new film short series. It hosted its annual summer youth documentary festival and Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2026. That’s in addition to workshops and other education programming.

Sturdivant said she is leaning heavily on the counsel and advice of Appalshop veterans to help the group come up with innovative ways to keep producing, celebrating and preserving art and Eastern Kentucky stories.

It’s also got to find a way to keep WMMT on the air.

“Art is an important driver for all communities. It’s economic development and it builds social connections,” Sturdivant said. “What keeps us moving forward is not just the work itself; it’s the people who believe in it. “

This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM.