Veteran NPR host Ari Shapiro is saying goodbye to the network and All Things Considered, the latest high-profile departure following the move by President Donald Trump administration’s to defund public media.

But the move to kill federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting isn’t the reason Shapiro said he leaving the network he has called home for 25 years.

“My decision to move on has nothing to do with the challenges facing public radio, the news media, or the country. Those are real and profound, and I plan to continue engaging with them in meaningful ways,” Shapiro wrote on Substack. “But they aren’t informing this transition.”

Edith Chapin, a senior vice president at National Public Radio and the network’s acting chief content officer, said in a memo to staff Shapiro made the decision “several months ago” and plans to offer updates on who will fill the vacant chair on All Things Considered.

“We’re excited to see what Ari does next as he embarks on creating more of his own work,” Chapin wrote. “We’ve also discussed keeping the door open for any opportunities to work together on specific projects in the future.”

Chapin is also stepping down from her role as an NPR executive, announcing her departure just days after Congress voted to strip all federal funding from public broadcasting.

Shapiro has spent the last decade hosting All Things Considered, NPR’s popular afternoon news show, which airs on WHYY in Philadelphia and on nearly every NPR station across the country. His final show will be Sept. 26.

He said he viewed the role “like inheriting a family heirloom,” with his main goal not to break the show “until it’s time to hand it off to the next generation.”

“Working at NPR has been a wild privilege,” Shapiro wrote. “The work of public radio is more important today than it has ever been. I plan to keep supporting it, and I hope you will too.”

Susan Stamberg, one of NPR’s “Founding Mothers” and a former All Things Considered host, announced her retirement from the station last week. Her final day at the network will be Sept. 1.

A bridge fund to help rescue struggling public media stations

In June, leaders of about 25 philanthropic foundations met at WXPN-FM (88.5) headquarters in Philadelphia to plan for a worst-case scenario that ultimately happened — Republicans slashing all federal funding for public media.

What they came up with was the idea of the Public Media Bridge Fund to help support about 115 rural public media stations that rely most on federal funding (more than 30% of their annual budget) to keep their operations running.

That fundraising is underway, with a goal of amassing $100 million to help support local stations over the next two years. So far, they have received commitments from the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and others totaling about $36 million, according to Tim Isgitt, the head of Public Media Co., which will ultimately manage and distribute the funds.

That $100 million is a drop in the bucket compared with the more than $1.1 billion the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was slated to receive over the next two years, but it represents enough to help struggling stations keep their lights on and their antennas broadcasting, at least in the short term.

“We’re working under the assumption federal funding is not coming back and, therefore, how do we secure local service for as many Americans as possible?” Isgitt told The Inquirer.

Isgitt said the plan is to publish grant guidelines for struggling stations by the end of the month and to distribute funds before November, when federal funding will run out.

“The thing we’re worried about is the closure of public media organizations at scale, and that’s what we’re trying to prevent happening,” Isgitt said.

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