Following public media’s loss of federal funding, PBS SoCal is hoping viewers will help fill the gap. It has announced We ❤ Public Television, a star-studded live three-hour telethon, which will air on Sat. Nov. 8 from 4-7 pm on PBS SoCal in the Southern California area and on PBS stations nationwide on Thanksgiving night.
The celebrity lineup includes Josh Groban, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ken Burns, Ziggy Marley, Lily Tomlin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Marlee Matlin, Nicholas Ralph, Noel Paul Stookey, Rick Steves, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Adam Arkin, Courtney Vance, Martha Plimpton, Joe Bonamassa, Sheléa, Jesse Cook, Judy Blume, Celtic Woman, Sarah Silverman, Mychal the Librarian, Lindsey Stirling and more.
The program will feature live musical performances and viewer testimonials, plus archival material from iconic public television shows including Masterpiece, Austin City Limits, Great Performances and Sesame Street.
The telethon also will include three special performances from the Nashville PBS studios featuring Kathy Mattea, Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle and Ketch Secor.
Following the broadcast, the telethon will be available on the free PBS App from Nov. 27-Dec. 24, 2025.
“This Telethon is going to be a giant lovefest celebrating Public Television. We will feature great music, some classic clips from viewers’ favorite PBS series and a few surprises,” commented PBS SoCal’s Executive Producer for the Telethon, Maura Daly Phinney. “Every contribution that viewers make will go to their local public television station and help them fill the gap created by the loss of our federal funding.”
Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, informed station general managers in August that PBS planned to cut its budget by 21% as public media faces the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding over the next two fiscal years. The overall pool of station dues will be reduced by $35 million, she said.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, set up by Congress in the 1960s to distribute federal funding grants, announced that it would be shutting down by the end of the year.