Columbia Journalism Review: Fifty years ago, the radio station that would become KSUT launched from a small room in Durango, Colorado. It had temperature problems and no ventilation. The plan was to provide information, alerts, and programming for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe; KSUT, now an NPR affiliate serving the whole Four Corners region, is one of only eight tribal radio stations in the country. Last week, KSUT emerged victorious—along with two Colorado stations, in Denver and Aspen; NPR more broadly; and PBS—in a suit against the Trump administration that I covered earlier this year. “Everyone is just so proud of KSUT for taking this stand,” Tami Graham, KSUT’s station manager, told me. “It’s quite risky for us, as you know, to do this for fear of retaliation from this administration.”

The lawsuit, which brought KSUT, Colorado Public Radio, and Aspen Public Radio as coplaintiffs with NPR and PBS, stemmed from Executive Order 14290: “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” which Donald Trump signed in early May of 2025. 

Visit Columbia Journalism Review for more.