Mark “Awful” Alford Laughs While Voting to Kill PBS—Rural Missouri Pays the Price

Mark “Awful” Alford just voted to gut PBS funding. Then he laughed about it. No surprise from a guy who built his career reading cue cards and blaming liberals for everything wrong with the world.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down completely by early 2026. This will devastate over 1,500 public radio and TV stations—many in rural towns that rely on PBS for education, local news, and emergency information.

But what does Alford say? He jokes, “Big Bird needs to leave the nest.”

I grew up on a Missouri farm. Our antenna picked up one clear signal—Channel 6 out of Warrensburg. That was PBS. Every morning it was Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Mister Rogers. Every evening, NOVA, Nature, The American Experience.

PBS helped raise us. It helped us learn when we had no tutors, no cable, and no big-city resources. It taught us about the world beyond our fences. That’s what Mark “Awful” Alford just voted to destroy.

He’s not just attacking public media—he’s attacking rural families. That’s the real bias here. He votes how his party tells him, then shows up smiling when the cameras roll. But the families hurt by his vote? They don’t get a camera. They just get silence.

This isn’t a political strategy. It’s an insult to every farm kid who grew up learning from PBS. To every parent who trusted those shows to help teach their kids. To every rural household where that was the only station they could get.

Mark “Awful” Alford doesn’t know Missouri. He doesn’t care to learn. And it shows.

Sources:

WRIC: Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is beginning to shut down

KSHB: Federal cuts hit public broadcasts, including Kansas City PBS

Vulture: Corporation for Public Broadcasting shuts down, affects PBS and NPR

The Guardian: Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close after funding eliminated