WORCESTER, Mass. - For a lot of public radio stations, money they will no longer get through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting means losing most - if not all - of their operating budget. For Worcester’s WICN 90.5FM, they said losing the federal funds could mean changes for the station, but now they’re relying on the community more than ever.

“We're going to have to really look at about how to manage our expenses going forward,” Melanie LeBoeuf Executive Director said.

LeBoeuf executive directs WICN 90.5FM; Worcester’s only NPR affiliate which stands to lose about nearly 20% of their budget with the cancellation of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“We have to cover $100,000," LeBoeuf said. "Five years ago we didn't have reserves and we have been able to build healthy reserves, but we still need support. 18% of our budget is a lot of, you know, is a lot of money.”

“As the morning person, I feel I start the day off for everybody," Production Manager & ‘Morning Vibe Time’ Host Michelle Willson said. "And so, I take it very seriously. I like the fact that I get to help set the tone for their day. And especially nowadays, when everything's so crazy.”

Among the extensive, commercial-free programming for the predominantly jazz station which covers many different cultures and genres, Michelle Willson hosts “Morning Vibe Time”.

“We have an average listening time of 9.2 hours a week," LeBoeuf said, "where most public stations are less than two hours a week.”

“Part of what I feel WICN does is what we do is we help people, in effect, put their own oxygen mask on first," Willson said, "because you need to do that if you're going to go out and help other people.”

“We do what we love every single day because we want to bring the music to people," LeBoeuf said. "But, you know, we need the community support more than ever.”

LeBoeuf said the station dropped their NPR affiliation a few years ago when they couldn’t afford it. The CPB dollars would help them pay for the public broadcasting; but many stations rely more heavily on the funds.

“There's also stations in the Midwest or even Alaska that their public media, their public funding, is all they have," LeBoeuf said. "And that's going to hit stations hard on all different ways. CPB gives us some money and we have to spend a certain part of it on public broadcasting. So, we choose to be the NPR station. We choose to bring that reputation to Worcester and we hope to continue to do that. But our funding is - we pay about $32,000 a year to be NPR affiliate.”

From on-air shows, to hosting live events and donating instruments to public schools, WICN aims to keep the community vibrant and economically alive.

Now, for the station which has been around for nearly 60 years, they’re hoping their community continues to support them.

“We've been through tough times before. We're going to get through this," Willson said. "We're not going anywhere and we're going to just figure it out together.”

“We're going to continue to be that station here in the community and bring the music and the culture events to all of our listeners," LeBoeuf said, "but we need everybody's support.”